The MSW Thesis: A Rich and Scholarly Tradition – A history of the Smith College School of Social Work

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In 2017, the Smith College Studies in Social Work Journal published a wide array of articles analyzing and reflecting upon one hundred years of thesis writing at SSW. This collection was prompted in part by the decision to discontinue the thesis requirement as the school began its next century. Below you will find titles, abstracts, and links to the full articles from this special edition (volume 87, issue 4).

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Editorials

For 97 years the MSW thesis was core to the Smith College School for Social Work curriculum. It, like the two consecutive 8-month field practicums, was a mandatory requirement of all social work students, making it one of the common experiences alumni across the years regard as a rite of passage. The thesis at SSW had become institutionalized and had become a very complicated and an all-consuming enterprise involving the School and other units within the college. Nevertheless, in April 2016, the majority of the School’s faculty voted to eliminate the thesis as a requirement for the graduation of all students. This issue of Smith Studies is devoted to the legacy and contribution of the MSW thesis to the field, current students, alumni, research advisors, faculty, and others within the College.

Jean LaTerz , EdD, LICSW & Maria Torres , PhD, LMHC
The decision to lift the mandatory thesis requirement was arrived at after several years of difficult and thoughtful discussion. Central to these conversations was a shared recognition of the numerous ways that students have benefited from having to complete a master’s level thesis and the ways that the thesis requirement negatively affected students unable to meet the established timeline for completion. These students who had demonstrated competency through their work in the classroom and in the field were forced into postresidency status.

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Articles

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Jean LaTerz” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

The MSW Thesis: A Rich and Scholarly Tradition at Smith College School for Social Work

Jean LaTerz, EdD, LICSW

The purpose of this article is to trace the history and evolution of the Smith College MSW thesis. Ms. Helen Leland Witmer, who also founded Smith College Studies in Social Work, was instrumental in creating an assignment that provides MSW students a hands-on research project that focused on gathering and analyzing data on agency-related mental health issues. Former and current chairs of the research sequence describe how the thesis evolved during their tenure and noted the positive aspects of how the thesis enhanced the students’ education and post-MSW opportunities. The increasing technological developments of the past few decades have had an immense impact on (1) the students’ ability to research and critique the literature in-depth, (2) the ease of writing and editing the document, and (3) the use of quantitative and qualitative software platforms for data organization and analysis. However, recent and growing challenges affecting students, faculty, and administration have led to the discontinuation of the thesis as the assignment for the specialization CSWE requirement.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”James W. Drisko” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

This article begins with a brief history of the thesis as a part of MSW education in the United States. The merits and challenges of completing a master’s thesis are detailed, with a focus on its role in engaging students in active learning. The concept of active learning is defined and applied to an analysis of how the thesis promotes higher-order learning. Active learning also fits well with the learning styles of millennial students. Several components of completing a thesis are then examined to illustrate its value (1) in enhancing critical thinking and expanding knowledge and skills, (2) in promoting conceptualization, (3) in reviewing the relevant literature, (4) in understanding and applying research ethics, 5) in understanding research methodology, and (6) in improving writing skills. The many opportunities presented in thesis projects for students are identified, along with challenges for thesis advisors.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Debra Hull” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

Research Methods: Serving the Thesis Legacy through a Social Justice Commitment
Debra Hull, PhD
This reflection celebrates the ways in which the research methods courses (as they have historically served as the gateway to the thesis) have supported the justice ethic, including the antiracism commitment, within the Smith College School for Social Work. Discussion of the theoretical underpinnings of justice as a core value in social work education traces the evolution of distributive justice, relational justice, and strengths-based justice. Specific examples of how the research methods sequence has applied justice-based education within the curriculum are detailed, along with a presentation of qualitative and quantitative data supporting these efforts.

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Reflection Papers

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Debra Carney” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

Social workers must be writers. The thesis provided students with an important opportunity to hone crucial writing and critical thinking skills, which enhanced their abilities to serve their clients. I share what I learned working with thesis writers about the significance of social work writing. I also discuss ways social workers should and can develop their writing as a powerful tool for advancing knowledge, practice and social justice. Although I describe encounters with students and teachers, to maintain their privacy, I have changed some details and all identifying information.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Sika Berger, Pamela Skinner, & Mary Lou Bouley” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

Smith College is one of a handful of liberal arts colleges to offer a master’s degree in social work. The Smith College School for Social Work (SCSSW)’s thesis requirement has had a major impact on the Smith College Libraries over the years, as the library role shifted from simply collecting books and journals in support of SCSSW—and warehousing the SCSSW thesis output—to developing a large array of services and teaching practices in support of the program. This reflection piece will detail the evolution of these services, practices, and support; it will also illustrate several ways the libraries used SCSSW as the proverbial “guinea pig” to test new services, new forms of access and authentication, new kinds of digital collections, new technologies, etc. In many ways, the master’s thesis has been a major driver of change for the Libraries—while at the same time it has provided an opportunity for collaborations in teaching and learning.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Pearl Soloff” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

This is a reflection piece exploring what being a research adviser has meant to me in the past 15 years. It goes without saying that conducting research and writing a thesis are important for social work students, but this article is about the ways in which it has been rewarding to me as a research adviser. It has kept me up-to-date on a multitude of issues and theories, given me access to a variety of underserved populations and increased my empathy and knowledge. In this article l will explore the work of two students—one from 2004 and a current student.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Joan Lesser” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

Intersubjectivity in Thesis Advising

Joan Lesser, PhD

This reflection paper discusses intersubjectivity as the pedagogical framework the author used to engage across difference with socioculturally diverse student advisees with a range of learning styles and subjective approaches to conceptualizing and writing a thesis. The intersubjective relational approach to advising involved engaging in dialogic conversations and creating a “third space” that honored our subjective, sociocultural, and academic styles, resulting in a powerful intersubjective thesis advising and learning experience.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Sophie Marzin” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

The Legacy of the Thesis Project and Research Advising: A Different Kind of Relationship

Sophie Marzin, MSW, MA

This article focuses on the research advisor as an integral part of the research experience. The working relationship with a thesis advisor provides a unique experience of apprenticeship and exchange of ideas that cannot be found in any course. Even though I graduated in 2004, I still remember the comments of my thesis advisor. For instance, she insisted that I do not replicate existing studies and instead add to the field of clinical social work. She challenged me to find an original question and the best way to answer it. By foregoing the research requirement, the school is abandoning a highly effective learning tool that enables us to critique and assess other studies. It also robs students of this invaluable apprenticeship.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Byers” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

Learning Together: A Dialogue on Collaborative MSW Thesis Advising

David S. Byers, PhD, MSW, LICSW, Joel Coburn, LICSW, Avigail Hurvitz-Prinz, LMSW & Paige Hustead, ASW

In this coauthored reflection, we share our experiences as three MSW students and one PhD student working closely together over the 2013–2014 academic year on MSW thesis projects. The PhD student served as research advisor for our group, but we created a collaborative supervision structure. We met weekly by Skype during busy periods, read each other’s drafts, coded excerpts of each other’s interviews, pushed at and challenged each other’s analyses, and encouraged each other at each step. This reflection is based on a recorded, transcribed, and edited dialogue between the four of us, three years later.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Wendy B. Rosen, PhD” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

The Master’s Thesis as Creative Enterprise

Wendy B. Rosen, PhD

Writing a master’s thesis is challenging and involves a significant investment of time and intellect. It can also be generated by an impassioned drive, especially when shared by an advisor who encourages personal creativity in the subject matter. This reflection paper draws on such an experience by a Smith alumna, class of 1977. It addresses the influence of great mentorship on a thesis subject derived from two deeply held interests, the poetry of Anne Sexton, a Pulitzer Prize–winning poet, and her suicide at age 47, and the clinical relevance of messages revealed within particular forms of personal narrative.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Anderson Beckmann Al Wazni” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

Research and Writing Is Social Justice Activism

Anderson Beckmann Al Wazni, MSW

The purpose of this article is to reflect on my personal experience completing the master’s thesis component of the Smith College School for Social Work, which inspired me to enter a field of social justice work postgraduation. My specific research topic began from a deeply personal space and evolved into a public career in speaking, multiple professional publications including the National Association for Social Work’s Social Work journal, and ongoing continuing education seminars including Smith College itself. My intention is to inspire future students to value and pursue the field of social work research, as I believe it is the highest form of advocacy.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Rebecca Stahl” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

Clinical Practice versus Social Justice Activism: Resolving Conflict through Research

Rebecca Stahl, MSW

This article describes the formulation of a thesis project that emerged from the author’s concerns that advancing her social work education would compromise her commitment and engagement with social activism.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Casey Loughran” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

Transformative Holding: A Reflection on the Legacy of the Smith School for Social Work Thesis
Casey Loughran MSW, LICSW
The Smith College School for Social Work thesis offers the student the opportunity to be nurtured into a competent clinician within the holding environment of the advisor–advisee relationship. My master’s thesis focused on caregiver response to infant sleep-related crying. This reflection describes the progression in my thesis process from focusing on how letting an infant “cry it out” neglects the infant’s psychological development to a more nuanced understanding of the caregiver’s subjectivity as central in the infant’s development of regulatory functions. My shift in understanding of the self and self-other relating was only possible through the deeply personal experience of being held within the advisor–advisee relationship. The containing function in this relationship parallels the way in which a “good enough” caregiver nurtures an infant. I conclude with a clinical vignette that exemplifies the expression of my internal transformation.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Monica McGoldrick” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

Reflections on My 1969 Smith College School for Social Work Thesis: Children’s Use of Humor in Psychotherapy
Monica McGoldrick MSW, PhD
I had wanted to do my thesis on family’s use of humor in therapy. My first lesson was that that was too complicated a project—a lesson in practicality, which influenced my entire future career. My thesis also gave me the chance to focus on children’s resourcefulness and resilience, rather than just on their problems and psychopathology. After graduation, my advisor proposed that I publish my thesis. Her generosity in mentoring me toward publication was an extraordinary boon. I had no idea how to go about submitting something for publication, and she guided me through the process, giving me confidence to proceed professionally. I believe practitioners need to be encouraged, as I was, to push their ideas and insights into expanding theory and practice for the benefit of our communities for the future. We have a great need to push the boundaries of support, change, healing, and transformation.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Maia Nikitovich” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

Epitaph for a Thesis: Bridging the Gap between Grief and Growth
Maia Nikitovich LMSW
This narrative and descriptive essay traces the legacy and impact that the Smith College School for Social Work thesis had on me as an individual and social worker. It explains the personal experiences I was facing immediately before beginning the thesis, which was the sudden death of my father, and the journey of self-discovery and healing that took place as I was writing it. The essay ends with a reflection on the importance of research and the value I found in the thesis process within my personal and my professional life.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Zpora R. Perry” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

The Me-this, Redeemed: A Reflection on My Thesis Project and How It Helped Me Heal
Zpora R. Perry LICSW
This is an essay reflecting on the importance of the author’s thesis in her healing process from cancer. It explores the process from deciding to do a project so closely linked to the author’s life (colloquially called a me-this) to the impact of the research, interviews, and findings. The author explores themes of mindfulness and presence as well as the power of cocreated relationships in this setting and therapeutic ones.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Cole Douglas Hooley, LCSW” _builder_version=”3.2.2″]

A Familiar Friend: The Impacts of the Master’s Thesis Over Four Formative Career Phases
Cole Douglas Hooley, LCSW
Over the course of my career, I have experienced the thesis in different ways. This reflection paper will relay my encounters with what I am calling “thesis-objects” (to borrow a concept from object relations). I encountered the thesis-objects at different phases of my professional development: when I was a student, a supervisor for Smith MSW students, a PhD applicant, and chair of the Alumni Thesis Award Committee. My relationship with each thesis-object has refined me and granted me new perspective and personal growth. When I was a student, the thesis was a coach helping me develop tools to answer important questions. When I was a supervisor, the thesis was a bridge-builder, strengthening my relationships with supervisees. Then, when I was a PhD applicant, the thesis was a door-opener, providing me means to access PhD opportunities. Now that I am a chair, the thesis is a teacher opening my eyes to new intellectual terrain and pressing social problems.

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four color photos of thesis door decorations — Thesis door decorations when submitted, unknown photographer, Social Work Records, RG 60 Acc #07A-007, College Archives, Smith College, Northampton, MA.

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