Analyzing Annotations: A Database Study in LSC 508 Student Selections
Description of the Situation
This Access database is constructed for Dr. C. Herbert Carson's use in analyzing trends in the annotations his students in LSC 508 choose. The Access database would allow Dr. Carson to analyze the annotations in many ways. For example, he would be able to gauge which journals students use most frequently. In addition, he could see how many students utilized electronic versions of journals. It would be interesting to see if electronic use increased over time. Also, he would be able to view all of the annotations from a specific week, and compare the text of the annotations when students use the same article. Such a database might also be of use to Dr. Carson if he wanted to write an article about students and technology.
Original Form
Originally, students wrote their citations on the front of index cards and their annotations on the back of the cards. These index cards had to accompany the printed citations and annotations which were in APA format.
Front of card
Student last name:
Student first name:
Year of course:
Semester of course:
Annotation number:
Article author or authors (last name first):
Article date:
Article title:
Electronic version:
Article journal:
Article volume:
Article issue:
Article pages:
Article subject:
Back of card
Annotation:
The original citations and annotations in APA format:
Annotations
Software choice and my database creation experience
My computer is a Compaq Presario with Microsoft Access 97. I have been using Access for eight years, and I have publishing history and women's history databases with three or four thousand records in them. Fortunately, even this older computer has been able to handle the load.
I first learned database creation using Q&A in the early 90s. When I created my first Q&A database, it was on DOS. Deciding on the specs was a challenge. I had to plan ahead, because I couldn't master moving fields around on the template. What I did find useful was the Q&A "Intelligent Assistant." After taking the time to program the assistant, I was able to ask appropriate questions in text form. The "Intelligent Assistant" would then confirm my query and create the desired report. Access, on the other hand, is very easy to work with. The table designs are very straightforward, and it is quite easy to add a field in between already existing fields. However, there is no "Intelligent Assistant" available. One must learn to make queries and to create reports. One problem I encountered was trying to print the table design for this database. I read in an Access book how to save tables in HTML, but the saving didn't seem to work for the database table layout form itself.
Input Requirements and Data Definitions
The Input Requirements and Data Definitions for the database can be found here:
Input Requirements
Estimated size of the database
Dr. Carson has two classes of 25 in both the fall and spring semesters, plus one class of 25 in summer, equaling 125 students per year. Fall and spring students have fifteen annotations, and summer students have ten, adding up to 750 annotations from each fall semester, 750 annotations from each spring semester, and 250 annotations from each summer semester. The total is 1750 annotations per year. After five years, there would be approximately 8750 annotations in the database.
Maximum size of each record: 938
Maximum number of annotations in five years: 8750
Maximum size of database in five years: 8207500 bytes
My computer would be able to handle a database of this size.
New Form
Access table with seven annotations
My first seven annotations copied in HTML from my new Access table can be viewed here:
Access Annotations
Printouts have been sent to Dr. Carson by mail.
Security
This database would be solely for Dr. Carson's use. If he were concerned about security, I would suggest that he use password protection such as McAfee Privacy so that others would not be able to use his files.
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