You bet I have (thought of adding the email stuff in the appendix). Actually,
I've planned a section I haven't written yet on becoming a researcher
(tentatively titled "More Participant than Observer"). My process of thinking
this diss. through has been a very social one, and my email is like a
think-aloud protocol from time to time. I cc'd every one of those messages and
scrolled back through them as I started outlining my chapter that describes the
study (of a basic writing class composed entirely of reentry women students in a
Daedalus classroom). I think that explaining and accounting for what I was
seeing for the specific recipients of my messages propelled me into the "real"
writing process of turning out a linear text.
Now my only problem is that I'd really rather produce the dissertation in a
form that reflects the creatively chaotic workshop class I observed and
participated in than in a traditional dissertation. But I don't think I want
to argue my case through the grad school right now--I just want to get
finished!
Alice