Reflections on Final Draft and IDT 8092.

This was the final week of the class and also the week the final draft was due. This was the final product for this class and will be my chapter 2 of my research.

First, I would like to thank my instructor, Dr. Weaver,  for her guidance and patience on me throughout the process. Looking back I can see how much I have grown in the process of writing a literature review, namely, finding and annotating my resources, writing in APA, and  synthesizing ideas into my final product.

Secondly, I would like to thank my peer reviewers, Kevin Smith and MIchelle Randolph. Reading through their work made me understand the kind of quality and detail that was needed for this paper.

Their feedback was also very helpful as I worked on my final draft.

This class is a key component for my doctoral  program research as it  puts me ahead of the game because I have a grasp and understanding of my research topic before I form a dissertation committee and take my Comprehensive Exams either in Spring or Summer.

Thanks to everyone in IDT 8092 and I hope to interact again in future.

Happy 4th of July.

Reflections on the Second draft and Peer reviews

This week's assignment was to submit the second draft of my literature review and do peer reviews. The second draft was a build up from the first draft that I submitted last week.

In this assignment, I looked at the feedback from Dr. Weaver. I felt that even though I had read the article on my topic, I did not synthesized enough into the draft. The flow of ideas was not very good. I am currently working on re-reading some of the articles to add contents to areas that I need to strengthen. I have printed a hard copy of my paper as this way I can identify and seal gaps in the flow of ideas. This works better for me.

Reading through my two peers work was very insightful for me as I had a better grasp of how to cite articles APA, how they synthesized their ideas, and how they linked them from to another.

At the same time, I have feedback from my two peers who reviewed my work. Their comments are very helpful at this time as I undertake the monumental task of addressing the areas that they pointed and also Dr. Weavers remarks on draft 2.

Currently, I am anticipating nothing short of a marathon for the next three to four days. I am not sure what strategy will work but I have to get this done well by July 2.

To my colleagues, thanks for your feedback and have a nice week finalizing your drafts.

Reflections on the outline and First draft

This week my first assignment was to create the outline for my research.  I began by using the sample outline provided, inserting my headings and subheadings.

The second assignment was to begin writing by filling into the headings synthesized information from my readings. I had to go back and forth to my annotated bibliography in order to address the four question stems in the outline. In some instances, I have had to go back to search  and review new articles and journals that address the question stem more comprehensively.

As I continue to flesh out my first draft, I am getting a deeper understanding of my topic. For example, as I was writing the rationale section of the draft, I realized that I was answering the benefits section of my draft. I took a pause and asked myself what is meaning for rationale, and only then did I realize that the two are completely different.

This is the first time I am doing a literature review. During the IDT 8100, we did mostly the topic introduction  and abstract sections of the research.

The best strategy for this assignment is to flesh out the synthesis for the four questions, which form the body of the research. In this way, I am able to see the big picture by pointing pointing out the main ideas and gaps in the topic. These leads to the conclusion as a summary of the whole body.

This assignment has made me to dig deeper into the meanings of the keywords of my research and how they are related to each other.

Advice: Break down the assignment into smaller tasks. This  is very helpful because the process of synthesizing requires a fresh and clear mind! Very early in the morning I take a look at the main task that I need to accomplish that day,  then I break it down into 3-4 sub- tasks. At different times during the day I can work on each sub-ask and then compile the main task in the evening.

Reflection on Annotations 2 & 3

This week has I continued searching, evaluating, and summarizing articles and journals for  my literature review. I was able to meet  Annotations 2 target of 40 sources. At this moment, I am very close to the finishing line number of 60.

As I search for sources, my goal is to have articles that address the four research question on the research topic. Going through the process, I can now see how my topic relates to prior research and I also have a better understanding of the relevance of the topic.

Having met my annotations 2 target, I feel a bit relaxed because that was the hardest part-getting 20 new sources  in three days-given that I had not fully recovered from the  mental overload of the first 20 articles for Annotations 1.

My advice is staying organized and on task . As Dr. Weaver stated in one of her post, “No slaking”.

I reached a point  when I felt was approaching  a  saturation point.  I was coming up with the same articles even when I changed the search terms, especially on  the same database. My experience has been to  formulating search phrases that are related to main idea. For example, the phase “social learning analytics” in combination with my best search terms  yielded a lot of new sources. This assignment is  more of a “brainstorming alternative phrases or synonyms to my main idea” than the prewriting process of searching for sources.

Reflection on Annotated bibliography.

This week has been very busy and important in my journey as a doctoral student. I got started on reading and summarizing articles as I prepare to venture into my literature review.

The most helpful assignment for this section was the meet the librarian assignment. Dr. Dennis was very helpful. 

I now have have a better understanding of my topic after reading through  more than 20 articles. My goal of learning how to locate quality articles and journals was met. First, as I read  and summarize articles and journals, I getting a better understanding of my topic. Second, I am also developing and shaping  new ideas that I will integrate in my topic.

I had done an annotated bibliography in IDT 8100 where I read and summarized 20 articles. I used refworks then. Refworks is a good resource because of the ability to export a source from a database directly.  For this assignment, I just created a google doc that follows the template required by Dr. Weaver. Each resource takes up a whole page. At this point I getting  organized is key and will be very beneficial later on in my research.

Before this assignment, I created a graphic organizer to have a better understanding of the literature review process as a whole. As I started this assignment, I understood the importance of locating quality articles and journals because my knowledge of the topic will result in high quality work as I progress through the other stages of the literature review and research later on.

So far I have done a good job because I have planned my time well. Generally, to meet the deadline of 20 articles in 4 days, I had to stay focused and give myself enough time to do a good reading and summary.  I have maintained a pace of about 4-5 articles a day, which has not been so overwhelming.

I need to have 60 resourses by the end of next week. I will use the same time management and organization that I used this week. My advice to any peers who are in a similar situation is, do not try  to read the articles when you have other thing going on or you are tired. Get a 2 time during the day or night and knock off the 4-5. Take a break when you a tired, come back when refreshed, and continue from where you left.

Personal insights

As I go through the process of annotating the resources, I am also exposed to different types of studies, namely qualitative, quantitative, empirical. I am beginning to have ideas as to what type of research I will do and as to what factors I need to consider when choosing type of research  that will be ideal for my topic. For example, the question of how and where I will collect data for my research keep coming up. I am hoping this process will give me the knowledge to address this question. 

Thanks to Peter Pappas

Peter Pappas blog