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

[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.

 

[Rob Parker]

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

 

[Joan Wild]

Have a look at OneNote. There's a free trial you can test out.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/default.aspx