Today I started the brutal process of actually editing my first draft of my chapter 2. I wrote an introduction describing the sections of the literature review. Then I started going over the text for the first section to determine if I wanted to keep it or not, wording it properly and making sure I had the citation. I probably finished about half of the first section. I am certain this will take me the rest of the week to complete. At that point I will still want to read and edit and make sure I have good content and all of my citations are there and it flows properly. I have 4 sections to edit. Today I put in 3 hours of good work. If I can do that on Friday I will really make some progress. I am pushing to have the first pass through of the entire documented, read formatted and cited by Sunday night.

Today I have finally added the last of my content to my chapter 2 work. On Thursday I will start the editing process. I will be doing this work for the rest of the week. My plan is to have it down by Sunday and send it through TurnItIn before sending a copy of Margaret for feedback.

Today I continued to compile my chapter 2. I have 2 more reports to include and then I will start editing and cutting it down. I should get those 2 report summaries incorporated on Thursday. By the weekend I should have all of my editing done and I intend to submit the first draft to Margaret.

Today I officially started to put together my chapter 2. I went through most of my materials and categorized them and placed them in a document. I still a few more to add to the document which I will do in my next session. Then I will begin to cut it down and wordsmith and weave what I have and write the introduction. As of now, the document is 93 pages single spaced. I am looking forward to starting the next part of the process. I am hoping to get the first draft to Margaret by Thursday morning.

Today I organized all of my reports and summarizes. I still have some that I have yet to summarize but before i read them and decide if I am going to use them, I am going to start to put together my chapter 2. My next work will be to take all of the documents and organize them into my zero draft of chapter 1.

I have been continuing to read and summarize reports. I have also been continuing my efforts with BiTWiSE as well as interviewing people on my topic to find out as much as I can. I have also continued to reach out to folks. Today I sent a note to Dr. Reagan Flowers. She lives in Houston so we will have a conference call soon. I am also meeting with a representative from Microsoft to discuss possibly studying The Student Minority Program that is done by Blacks @ Microsoft to see if there is an association between students participating in the program and increased interest in computing careers.

So far this week I have completed reading The Digital Elite by John T. Barber and I have begun to summarize what I will use for chapter 2. I also started reading my book on Grounded Theory which I think is the design I wish to use, but I wanted to read more about it before I committed. But is is based on Comparative Analysis which I think is important for what I wish to do. I also reached out to someone at The Blacks @ Microsoft Employee Resource Group about the possibility of studying their program called Student Minority Day as my study. I should finish the book on Thursday and then I can get to the remaining sources I have yet to read and my discovery on AERA.net for anything new. I should complete this by the end of the week. The hope is to start to put together the chapter and send it to Margaret before the end of the month.

Today I finished reading The Black Digital Elite by John T. Barber. This is an excellent book and will fit in well with my chapter 2. It is a profile of African Americans who have played a role in the evolution of the computing industry from different sectors of the society. Each profile reveals the thoughts of these "digital elite" on what needs to be done to close the technology gap in America. This week I also reached out to Detra Newhouse of Blacks @ Microsoft to discuss the feasibility of studying their Student Minority Day Initiative for my study.

I got back in the library today. I still have articles to summarize, but I wanted to use a book I have called The Black Digital Elite. I spent a few hours today in the library and I should finish it on Wednesday. I am glad that I did because I definitely found some good stuff. I will summarize it on Wednesday. I still did not get my chapter 2 written this week. But I want to have certain sources summarized before I start to synthesize and integrate.

talk to students who have come through the bdpa program who have majored in stem. What effect did it have (ask margaret)

how does events such as career days influence the choice of career.
keep my eyes and ears open during my talk in Waco.

saw this:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007PhDT.......130W

http://gradworks.umi.com/3341359.pdf, found on google need to do a google scholar search + pro quest can still be building even though I submit to Margaret.

The study that looked at robotics used a tool to measure before and after.

1. Continue conversations and interviews (may get an idea of what to ask or design)
2. Continue summarizing what I have (for chapter 2 construction)
3. AERA (for chapter 2 construction)
4. Other dissertations for ideas for my chapter 3 (further research)
5. BiTWiSE (ideas for design, participant source)

Today I spent a few hours in the library reading and summarizing proposals. I did not get as much done in terms of how many or how much I wrote but my understanding of the problem and what I am doing is growing immensely. I read one article that was full of information and gave me several ideas.

I also finally summarized the Dividing Lines article which also had an interesting nugget or 2. My goal is to complete 10 more summaries before attempting the construction of my first draft. My goal was to get the draft to Margaret today. I spoke with her today and told her that I would get her a draft next Wednesday.

That is seven days from now and I fully intend to do that. She also made it clear to me today that I don't actually have a research design yet, although I keep thinking that I do. I guess I do unless something better comes along. My plan is to interview black technology professionals and ask them about their experiences being an information technology professional and let the themes emerge as to why so few black males pursue careers in information technology.


She was also very encouraging regarding my BiTWiSE activities. Which was very reassuring because I struggled with taking the time on the project as I was worried about it taking away from my dissertation. She convinced me that they are one and the same. She even said that I may find a way to use BiTWiSE as part of my study.

She reminded that I should look for other dissertations and check their chapter 5's for ideas for study designs. I had been doing that but I will do more more of it. She also mentioned that I could interview the IT professionals to get their take and use that information to create a survey to interview college students.

To see if what is perceived by the professionals holds water with the aspirants. I need to continue to write and keep my eyes and ears open for the idea that really clicks for me.

Today I pretty much worked on my paper the entire day. It was more about quality that quantity but I will be back at it on Saturday (tomorrow). I was able to finally transpose my notes from my last 2 interviews with Professor Moore of UT and Andrea Barefield of Lone Star College in Houston. Both were full of insights and spawned connections that I reached out to today to setup interviews. Saturday I will visit the dissertation circle and input my plans for this semester which will include conducting my proposal. The rest of the day I will get back to reading and summarizing.

I did not make my goal of submitting my first draft of my chapter 2 by May 1. For the past 2 weeks I have been preparing for multiple job interviews. This was all consuming. Although I did not get any work done with regards to the actual literature review, I did meet with several people to gain insights to what the issues may be around my topic. Margaret suggested that I do this. Some of the meetings have been a gold mine.

For example, the information that I gathered from my interview with Mario Berry will be very helpful when I am designing my interview questions. I will post my notes from that conversation on Google Docs. I also made contact with IT leaders, thanks to Wayne Hicks, in BDPA. My aim is to interview these leaders in August at the BDPA National Technology Conference.

I have their contact information and I intend to connect with them this week. I have also tried to reach out repeatedly to Richard Tapia of Rice University to no avail. Additionally, I reached out to Carmen Caldwell and Omari Gordon. These are contacts I made via my conversation with high school teacher Krystal Gordon. I left messages for both and I am looking forward to speaking with them.

I attended a job fair on April 20th. The idea was to sit down with those who are doing the hiring. I met Boi-Yeanoh Adams. I interviewed her as well and she connected with me Dr. Consuelo Waight of The University of Houston. Both meeting were fruitful. I have setup other interviews from contacts I made at the job fair. On Tuesday I am meeting with Andrea Barefield of Lone Star College. I am looking forward to getting her thoughts as well as connect one of her colleagues that she mentioned would be helpful in my quest.

Today I finished my review and summary of A Struggle Worthy of Note I also added to my notes and took some great information from the conclusion. The plan for the rest of the month is to continue with my informational interviews. At my next session I also intend to summarize my notes from the meeting with Mario Berry. I also have 2 other interviews to setup that came out of my meeting with Krystal Gordon. The plan here is to continue reading, summarizing and categorizing. I am definitely learning everything I can about the subject which I am very pleased with. I also need to search the AERA database for this year as well as review the methodology site that Margaret mentioned. I also intend to take a look at the disscircles site she setup. I tried to re-do TurnItIn for my last chapter but I had some sort of issue where it is checking against my paper and coming up 100% plagiarized. I have notified writing support and I am awaiting an answer. After I am done with my sources. I will re-read Creswell and formation and maybe one or two examples. After that I will write my first draft. My goal is to submit it on May 1.

Today I finished reading from "A Struggle Worthy of Note: The Engineering and Technological Education of Black Americans. This is an excellent resource. I wish I could find the author. I learned a great deal in reading it. I learned about the racism and exclusionary practices that kept African Americans from participating in the technical professions as well as the changes in these policies as the technical leadership of the country began to be threatened. I will certainly in my next session review the book and add more to my summary of it that I can use in my chapter 2 as well as other chapters. Also, next time I will post my notes from my meeting with Mario Berry and I am looking forward to other interviews that I have setup such as Lisette Titre. I need to also connect with NACME and the group mentioned in Jerlando Jackson's paper.

Today I continued to read for my literature review. Before my next session I need to organize what I am going to read. I definitely want to read the new online articles I have bookmarked on my pc, but I also have others on flash drives, desktop etc that I need to have organized to read. I should finish my content this week and determine if I need more. I will also do the AERA work this week. By this weekend I should cut my first draft.

Today I spoke with Margaret via Skype. She mentioned that I should access the AERA site and peruse the catalog for the latest research on my topic.

Today I spoke with Dr. Peggy Osbourn. Peggy is the Director of Counseling, Career and Disability Services. She did not offer much in the way of information but she was a networking bonanza. She gave me several contacts. I will be contacting those folks the rest of this week.

Today I started doing some of the leg work for my chapter 3. I had an appointment with the career services office of Lone Star College Cypress. The person I met with did not have any information for me but she was able to connect me with a student who had started to pursue engineering at the University of Houston who had returned back to the community college. She is going to get permission from the student. Hopefully I will hear back from the student soon and I will be able to setup a time to connect with him. She also put me in touch with others in the office who may be able to help. I am meeting with Peggie Osbourn on Tuesday. Also I will be attending their job fair on April 20th to have an opportunity to actually get contact information of actual companies and I may be able to speak with them. Today I also spoke with Wayne Hicks of BDPA in order to setup interviews during the conference in Chicago. The conference will take place in Chicago. I also met with Krystal Gordon. Krystal is a teacher at MacArthur High School in Houston. She gave me many insights and also connected me with another teacher who teaches math as well as her a hiring manager. I am also looking forward to meeting her brother. I have used her notes as a starting point from my chapter 3.