Unit 7.5

Murder Most Horrid (Exploring databases)

Tutorial 5:Making reports

Introduction

Now the murderer has been arrested, Detective Turner needs to make sure that the case against him is watertight. In order to do this, he needs to be able to explain to the judge exactly how you found the murderer. You will need to present this in the form of a word-processed document.

By the end of this tutorial you will be able to:

• Take screenshots and explain your processes
• Create database reports using the Report Wizard

In this tutorial, you are working on the following APP Assessment Focuses:

AF1

Level 4 – Plan and implement solutions that combine and refine different forms of
information
– Evaluate the quality and success of your solutions

Level 5 – Plan and develop structured solutions to problems which use a combination of ICT tools and techniques
– Use criteria to evaluate the quality of solutions, identifying improvements and refining your work

AF2

Level 4 – Organise and process data for a purpose

Level 5 – Use logical and appropriate structures to organise and process data

AF3

Level 4 – Use appropriate search criteria to find relevant information, and check its plausibility and usefulness
– Present information in different forms suited to purpose

Level 5 – Take account of accuracy and potential bias when searching for and selecting information
– Present information in a range of forms for specific purposes and familiar audiences

Get started

As a class, discuss how likely it is that Garry Dury is the murderer. How do you know he is the murderer? What type of evidence do you have? Is this evidence reliable? How could you make sure that you have the right person?

Open Resource 5a and complete the worksheet with a partner. Remember to save your work!

Try it out

Go to your folder for this unit (Unit 7.5 – Murder Most Horrid) and locate the completed version of Resource 4a that you saved in Tutorial 4.

You are going to perform the same searches again but this time you will need to provide evidence that you have performed the searches by taking screenshots of your results.

Open Resource 5d and take a minute or two to explain to a partner how to make a query. Can you remember how? Discuss the steps as a class.

Create screenshots

You need to make a word-processed document that has screenshots of results from each of the filters. This also needs to explain exactly what you have searched for. Watch Skills Demo 3b from Unit 7.2 to remind yourself how to take screenshots.

Open Resource 5b. You need to save this into your folder for this unit.

Now perform each search from Tutorial 4 again, this time taking a screenshot of each filter. Paste these into your saved version of Resource 5b, and add annotations to show how the crime was solved.

Find the relevant information

Detective Turner needs you to find the following information:

• People who were in the English department
• People who were in the Maths department
• People who were in Reprographics

Make a query for each of the above. For each query you will need to include the following fields:

'ID', 'Surname', 'Forename', 'Hair Colour', 'Shoe Size', 'Distinguishing Marks', 'Height', 'Alibi'.

Use the 'Report Wizard'

Now that you have made these queries, Detective Turner would like to be able to print out the information.

Detective Turner needs to be able to print out the information about the suspects. Look again at Resource 5d and open the suspects table in Datasheet View. Imagine this is a printout of the table (or print out a copy). How easy or difficult would it be for the detective to find the witnesses' names and addresses from this table? Discuss your ideas as a class.

Now open the shoe size query report on Resource 5d. Watch as your teacher demonstrates how to make a report.

You are going to use the 'Report Wizard' to make a report based on the English department query. Find out how to do this by watching Skills Demo 5a.

Now you create a report for each of the following:

• People who were in the English department
• People who were in the Maths department
• People who were in Reprographics

Remember to:

• Select the query you want to base the report on
• Add all the fields to your report
• Change the orientation of your report to landscape
• Choose a report style
• Give your report a title

When you click on Finish, the report should open in 'Print Preview' so that you can see what it will look like when you print it. If you are happy with the report, print it out. Remember to save your work!

Round it up

As a class, discuss the best method of presenting information. Can you explain to a partner or to the class how to make a report?

Now play Interactive 5 to test your knowledge of databases!

Homework

Make notes on your printout to explain what you have done and what the report shows. Open Resource 5c for help with your notes.