Culminating Writing Efforts

I have worked through the process of merging Chapters 1-3, continuing my poster presentation work, and preparing a presentation for the proposal defense simulation for our last class.  I have found that the proofing and editing is a vital aspect of this process and that even after several reads, there are always adjustments that need to be made.  I have posted my final version (at this time) of the literature review and will be posting the merged Chapters 1 through 3 prior to tomorrow morning. 

Literature Review Revised

As I have progressed through the process of finalizing my literature review, I realized how much my initial submission was lacking.  The feedback that I received from Dr. Pittman regarding the first draft was very helpful in transforming the document into its current form.  The revisions necessitated revisiting some of the literature and providing more details related to the studies.  I found the Literature Review text very helpful throughout this course as a reference and guide for appropriate development of this piece of the research proposal. 
I have also been working on my poster presentation and have it nearly completed.  The YouTube tutorial was helpful in alleviating any concern about the utilization of graphics to enhance the poster.  Much of the poster is pulled from documents that have already been created, so overall it has not been that cumbersome a process to work on.  I am looking to finalize this within the week along with a handout to go with it.  I look forward to continuing the writing process as we approach the next quarter. 

Spencer Grant

I completed the Spencer Grant application last evening and am going to give it a final read today before submitting it.  I did experience a bit of confusion between the templates provided, the EH Research Blog submission, and what was asked of us on the Spencer Grant site itself.  Given this concern, I simply followed the criteria that was provided to us on July 19th and worked from that document.  I found this very helpful in making my points more concise to meet the page number counts.  I have completed grants before at the local education agency level for both Dual Enrollment and Safe and Drug Free Schools so I am familiar with a specific protocol for writing regarding these.  I believe we have missed the deadline submission for these given that we need to submit for the grant at least four months in advance of starting the research (according to the site).  With the next deadline in October, I don't believe I would qualify given that my research efforts will probably start no later than December.  Overall, I continue to find the feedback and process of rewriting and fine-tuning to be a positive and productive experience.

Literature Review Development

In progressing through the writing of the literature review, I have struggled a bit with determining how expansive to be on a given theme.  Currently, I have three themes that are pervasive in the literature review:

• Contemporary Perspectives on Social Capital
• School Work Perspectives on Technology
• Community & Connectedness

I have interwoven sources from my annotated bibliography in each of these sections but primarily wanted to demonstrate a connection between technology and social capital within a variety of contexts including education.  I desire to be concise and poignant in the discussion but also am aware of expectations for number of pages.  In the end, I believe the quality of writing should supersede page length expectations.  I submitted my draft literature review this morning to Dr. Gould and Dr. Pittman and will be anxious to hear their feedback so I can improve upon this particular product.