I received feedback from Margaret on my chapter 2. I basically need to rewrite what i have done thus far. My goal is to have this done by Sunday. That is aggressive but that is my goal. The email was full of information and links to resources. It was a lot to absorb so I started today's session with reviewing the materials. It is not hard to understand just much to absorb. It was however very helpful and reduced my confusion. It actually made me look forward to future research. Below is the message I received from Margaret:

Hi Kai,

You are writing and that is good. And I can see you are struggling to find organization.

You have a two section lit review with a paragraph long introduction and no conclusion.

I have two big comments that affect the whole paper.

1) you need structure -- this will help you organize what you have written.

Both sections need structure and each paragraph needs structure.

You are building an argument -- it goes like this...
Section 1: topic
subsection 1 Topic
Paragraph one
Claim
data
what you take from this
Paragraph 2
Claim
evidence or data
What you take from this
Paragraphs x-x (with this structure)
Summary paragraph
what I took from all of these supported claims
Sub section 2 Topic
Paragraph....
So for each paragraph.. find the claim... support it with evidence and start building your arguement.

2) And the next thing is that you are over quoting. Think about quotes as illustrations.
They make your point stronger and provide additional information but they are NOT
instead of writing. The most common mistake a graduate student makes is writing
through the voice of others. You need to find your own voice. You are telling us
what you have learned.

This screencast I made for the MALT students might help...

http://screencast.com/t/SkULeX6yg

Also go to

http://ccar.wikispaces.com

Go to lit review and read what I have written... especially the part about when and how to quote.

Now is the time to go to the website and put up a plan for what you will do this semester. I
gave you credit for your flurry of work at the end, but I need a pattern of regular work.

You need to be making progress... (edits are in the dropbox)

Margaret

After reviewing the material, I started the process of the rewrite. Instead of starting where I left off I started at the beginning using Margaret's comments. This way when I get to the end I have it in the form and using the suggestions before I move on. Also I can go forth with the rest of my sources in the proper fashion. On Sunday I continued to work on the new format. I did the first section which is Historical overview. I still need to finish that and then I will rewrite the rest and work on section titles and order and transitions and rewrite intro. I have also started thinking about interviewing African American IT leadership perhaps at the CIO level. I have 2 in mind thus far:

1. Thomas Sneed
2. Shellye Archambeau

Perhaps I can tap ITSMF (Information Technology Senior Management Forum). I sent an email via the website to gain a contact. Perhaps I can survey them and report the findings.