I have been trying to find the correct way of normalizing tables in Access. From what I understand, it goes from the 1st normal form, to 2nd, then 3rd. Usually, that's as far as it goes, but sometimes to the 5th and 6th. Then, there's also the Cobb 3rd.This all makes sense to me. I am supposed to teach a class in this starting next week, and I just got the textbook. It says something entirely different. It says 2nd normal form is only for tables with a multiple-field primary key. 3rd normal form is only for tables with a single-field key. 4th normal form can go from 1st to 4th, where there are no independent one-to-many relationships between primary key and non-key fields. Can someone clear this up for me please?

Chark

Chark,

I just finished teaching an intermediate class in Access in which I covered database normalization.  I used Litwin, Get, and Gilbert's Access 97 Developer's Handbook.  Look at Chapter 4.  It is a pretty clear explanation.

As an aside, after explaining the concepts of normalization, I had my students create a database for a college registrar (info on classes and schedules).  I had the asssignment at their desks when they sat down for the second session.  After giving them about 15 minutes to work on it, we brainstormed the tables necessary, their primary keys and the most important fields.  It really seemed to reinforce the concepts; since everyone in the class had, at some point, registered for some kind of class.

Hope that helps,

Kathryn