Databases

What is a Database?

At times, we need to keep track of information we have collected and a good place to do this is in a database file. Whether it is a personal address book, an inventory of classroom supplies and resources, a list of bank transactions, or research notes for a project, a database file makes it easy to enter, store, and find specific pieces of information.

The Components of a Database

The basic structure for storing data in a database is a table. The table is the whole collection of information (for example, in an the case of an address book, the table is the whole address book).

In a table, data is entered in rows. Each row is known as a record. A record includes all of the pieces of information related to one individual entry in your database (in the address book example, a record is all of the information for a specific individual person or organization in the address book)

In a record, the name for each category or each piece of information that makes up the record is known as a field (in the address book example, the fields would include first name, last name, street address, city, province, postal code, phone number, e-mail address, and any other information you choose to include such as organization or relationship). The actual information you type into each cell is called the data.

Your turn: now it is time to begin to create a database of your own. We will need to have some specific field names in our research databases, so you will begin by entering the first four fields of the database. Then we will do some formatting so that it is easier to see and to enter data in.

  1. Go to the start menu or the exel icon on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen
  2. Create a new blank document.
  3. In the first cell (column A row 1 - a box in the grid on the screen is called a cell) type the name of your first field, author (the name of the person or organization that wrote or created the document – if the book has an editor instead of an author type the name followed by: editor)
  4. In the second cell (B1) type the name for your second field, title (the title of the book, article or web page you got the information from)
  5. In C1 type the name for the third field, source (this will be the name of the publishing company for the book or the URL/web page address that the information came from)
  6. In D1 type the fourth field, date (this will be the copyright date or the date your retrieved the information in the case of a web page).

You will need at least two more fields for the database, one in which you will record the individual notes you take from the sources you use and one that will be use to categorize the notes or keep track of which topic or point the note relates to.

  1. Generate field names for these two columns of data.
  2. Based on what it is you are researching, decide what kinds of categories your data might fall into.
  3. For example: If we are researching the social structures and political structures of the Iroquois Nations and looking for ways in which the social structures influence the political structures we might use social, political and influence as our categories.
  4. It is always a good idea to have one additional category, other. This category can be applied to any research data that doesn’t relate specifically to social, political or influences.

When doing research you MUST have all of this information for ALL resources you use. If the site you are on does not have any information about who made it, then you CAN NOT use it. Credible sites (those that we can trust) need to provide information about who provided the information and we should be able to tell by this that they are an expert on the topic or have some connection to it.

Formatting

Now that you have the basics of the data table created, some formatting techniques can be used to make the database easier to read and to enter facts into. Here are a few changes that should make your data easier to see:

  1. Click on the file menu and choose page set-up, then select landscape. This will change the orientation of the page to be the longer version so that all of your columns will appear on the page at one time.
  2. Click on the view menu and select zoom, then click on 200%. This will enlarge the view of the page so that the text is easier to read.
  3. Point your mouse at the divider line between the column letters and drag to the right or left to make columns wider or narrower so that the data can be more easily seen. The title and date columns only need to be about 10 spaces wide, while the notes column and the Source column need to be quite a bit wider so that you can read all of the data easily. Make sure that all of your columns will fit on the page at one time.
  4. Click on the letter “A” and drag over to the last column in order to select all of the columns in the table. Click on the format menu. Choose cell. Click on the Alignment tab. Make sure there is a checkmark in the wrap text box. This will make the text that you enter wrap to the next line when it hits the divider between columns so you can see everything at once.

Entering Data

Although there are a number of ways you can use the data tools in Excel, the easiest way of doing so is to create what's known as a list or form based on the fields in the data table.

Using forms to enter data

  1. Once you have entered the field names for your database, click on one of the field names.
  2. Click on the DATA menu at the top of the screen
  3. Choose FORM.
  4. A dialogue box may come up asking of you want to use the first line of information as the labels for your data, click ok.
  5. A data entry dialogue box will appear.
  6. Click on the first white box, next to the first field name.
  7. Type in your data being careful to use correct/consistent form for capitals, spaces and spelling. It is important that you use the tab key to move from one box to the next (you may choose to use the mouse to click in each box, but it is much slower to do it this way). Do not hit the enter key as this will clear the form, put the data you have entered into the database and give you a new entry form.
  8. When you have entered data in the final box of the form either click on NEW or hit the enter key and a new, blank form will appear. The data you entered in the previous form becomes a new record in the data table.

If you accidentally hit enter or need to go back to a previous entry, use the FIND NEXT or FIND PREVIOUS buttons to scroll through each of the records in the table.

Once the data has been entered, sorting and filtering the data allows you to analyze the information and identify relationships.