To be completely normalized I would use this schema. QuoteList and TopicMaster will all have a one->many relationship with Quote_Details. A single quote could be in Quote_Details many times with a different TopicID. This also assumes that a quote can only have one author, but a single author may have many quotes. -Anthony Table QuoteList Fields: QuoteID AuthorID QuoteText Table TopicMaster Fields: TopicID TopicName Table AuthorMaster Fields: AuthorID AuthorName Table Quote_Details Fileds: DetailID QuoteID TopicID -----Original Message----- From: Nikunj Shah [mailto:catchnikunj@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002 12:54 PM To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mso] Database Normalization I have read a few pages on Database normalization, and understand that the same data should not be entered in a database in more than one table, and that each table should hold only related fields. Now consider this problem I have created a database to store quotes by great authors. I want each quote to be assigned a particular topic. However the problem is that, a particular quote may be such that it can be assigned two topics or may be even more. Consider for example the quote "It is the surmounting of difficulties that make heroes" by Louis Cossuth. This quote may be assigned topics like "Hero", "Difficult" and "Challenge". After entering a quote, my main utility is to be able to search for Quotes, Topic wise. Keeping this fact in mind my current database has the following Structure Table QuoteList Fields: QuoteId QuoteText Topic1 (Lookup To TopicName in TopicMaster Table) Topic2 (Lookup To TopicName in TopicMaster Table) Topic3 (Lookup To TopicName in TopicMaster Table) Topic4 (Lookup To TopicName in TopicMaster Table) AuthorName (Lookup to AuthorName in AuthorMaster Table) Table TopicMaster Fields: TopicID TopicName Table AuthorMaster Fields: AuthorID AuthorName I currently search for quotes on particular topic by using "Or" in the querry. Further a quote may be such that it can be assigned only one topic. Thus it happens that since some quotes can be assigned only one topic, other topic Fields viz Topic2, Topic3, Topic4 remain blank. In such design, I face all drawbacks of using a non-normalized database. Like for eg, if I misspell a topic once in TopicName field of TopicMaster Table, the incorrect spelling is entered in Quote Table since all topic fields in Quote table have a lookup in the TopicMaster table. Further when I correct the spelling in TopicMaster table I have to manually search all fields in Quote table where the incorrect spelling of the topic is entered and correct the same. I am sure that my Database is not normalized. It can be better designed such that redundancy can be avoided, as well as data assess and search capabilities are improved. Any Suggestions from Access Gurus for normalizing the database?? Thank you so much for help Regards, Nikunj Mumbai India. __________________________________________________ Yahoo! - We Remember 9-11: A tribute to the more than 3,000 lives lost http://dir.remember.yahoo.com/tribute ************************************************************* You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To Unsubscribe from this group, send an email to mso-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=unsubscribe Or, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu. This will also allow you to change your email settings to digest or vacation (no mail). //www.freelists.org/webpage/mso To be able to use the files section for sharing files with the group, send a request to mso-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and you will be sent an invitation with instructions. Once you are a member of the files group, you can go here to upload/download files: http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/msofiles ************************************************************* ************************************************************* You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To Unsubscribe from this group, send an email to mso-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=unsubscribe Or, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu. This will also allow you to change your email settings to digest or vacation (no mail). //www.freelists.org/webpage/mso To be able to use the files section for sharing files with the group, send a request to mso-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and you will be sent an invitation with instructions. Once you are a member of the files group, you can go here to upload/download files: http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/msofiles *************************************************************