Tips for an access database of research/theory for my PhD

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Guest

I have never set up a data base in Access before and can not find a
"template". I know I will be gathering a mountain of information via
research articles and general publications. I would like to avoid the
scenario where I know I read something really pertinent but can't remember
where! Any advice would be gratefully received.
 
Well, maybe I'll upset some of the MVPs here, but ...

If you don't understand the concepts of a relational database such as
Access, then you are probably better off setting up a simple "flat-file"
spreadsheet in Excel, and using autofilter on fields to search your data. I
assume from your post that you've already done a search for an Access
template, and come up with nothing suitable. Access has a pretty steep
learning curve to be able to use it effectively, and even if you did find a
general-purpose literature review template you'd almost certainly need to
modify it to suit your particular requirements. I suspect your efforts
would be better spent in real research rather than learning Access. That's
what I would do - a comment offered with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight ;-).

Mind you, you're probably much younger and can work lots of over-nighters,
and then go out and party, and then ...

So maybe wait for some different advice ...

Rob
 
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