Microsoft Office Access 2003: Comprehensive Concepts and Techniques, CourseCard Edition (Shelly Cashman) [Paperback]

Gary B. Shelly (Author), Thomas J. Cashman (Author), Philip J. Pratt (Author), Mary Z. Last (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2005 | ISBN-10: 1418843636 | ISBN-13: 978-1418843632 | Edition: 2

For the past three decades, the Shelly Cashman Series has effectively introduced computers to millions of students - consistently providing the highest quality, most up-to-date, and innovative materials in computer education. Enjoy the proven step-by-step style and improved Access 2003 updates of the Shelly Cashman Series and enhance your Office application skills today!

Editorial Reviews

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"The Shelly Cashman Series is to computer applications as Kleenex is to tissue." - Instructor Diane Folse

"I use the Cases and Places exercises as graded assignments, as well as for extra credit. They provide little guidance; the student has to apply what they learned in the project itself. This allows for flexibility; the student can use the formatting and layout that they want to in solving the problem. The solution files provided on CD make it convenient for grading/correcting as well as demonstration. I plan to continue to use the Shelly Cashman Series in my online and traditional course. The student feedback on the text is excellent. In fact, most students say they will keep the text as a source for future reference." - Associate Professor Thaddeus Jones, Jefferson Community College

" Shelly Cashman Series is the most comprehensive tool to prepare students for the Microsoft Office Specialist certification and future employment. The text is very thorough and closely aligns the teaching objectives to the Microsoft Office Specialist skill sets. The exercises in the text are also accurately mapped to the exams." - Professor Juanita H. Marquez, El Centro College

"After using your text this past semester, I think it is great! The instructor's supplemental material (tests, practice, PowerPoint slides, etc...) make the teaching task easier! The book and supporting materials are ten times better than our previous text." - Dr. Stanley E Meyers, Norwalk Community College

Product Details

• Paperback: 671 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology; 2 edition (March 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1418843636
• ISBN-13: 978-1418843632
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #560,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gary B. Shelly wrote and published his first computer education textbook in 1969. To date, more than twenty million copies of Shelly Cashman Series' textbooks have been sold. Gary and a talented group of contributing authors have produced books on computer programming, computer concepts, and application software, that are the leading textbooks in the computer technology market today. For the past 34 years, Gary has hosted the annual Shelly Cashman Institute, a week-long training event focusing on the latest topics in technology.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Introduction, January 25, 2006

By 

John A Lee III "jal3" (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Office Access 2003: Comprehensive Concepts and Techniques, CourseCard Edition (Shelly Cashman) (Paperback)

This is a good introduction to working with Access 2003. It is introductory in nature and can be successfully used by those with no background at all. The instructions a very detailed and are given step by step. This process is so basic, that it often becomes annoying and prompts thoughts such as, "surely, they realize I can do THAT by now". Even though it is annoying, that is also part of the strength of this tutorial.

Another strength is its large, full color illustrations. They could even be called luxurious, especially when compared to the miniature black and white illustration which are so common but need an electron microscope to be of any use. Most steps are documented and the locations of needed buttons are usually highlighted. This is particularly helpful in a complex application like Access which contains a myriad of menus and buttons.

The examples almost always work as described. The only place I encountered any problem was towards the end when dealing with writing VBA code. There I did run into one glitch. I am still unsure whether it was my typing of an actual problem. Retyping code is notorious for these types of errors but I also noticed that in this one instance, the screens did not always exactly match the illustrations.

The examples build upon each other. Students use the same basic company level problem and keep building upon it. This reinforces earlier lessons.

This book has a few cons as well. There is no disk. It assumes that an instructor will hand out all needed files. This may work in a college but it did not work for me at home.

The book is weak on teaching actual database theory. It is mostly about how to use the program. Some topics are merely glossed over. Many to many relationships were only mentioned in passing. On the plus side, however, just about every topic is at least touched upon.

This book was obviously designed to be used as a part of a formal class. I think it works extremely well in that situation. It was also fairly decent for self study.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, November 1, 2009

By 

D. Sprowls (York, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft Office Access 2003: Comprehensive Concepts and Techniques, CourseCard Edition (Shelly Cashman) (Paperback)

Great book. What can I say. It walks you through step by step, creating and editing access databases. It seems to be fairly thorough in its coverage. I would highly recommend it to anyone with little or no experience using Access or any other databases. I have little knowledge of SQL, I see where a lot of the concepts of this book apparently seem to be universal. Also I used this book with Access 2007 and although 2007 has the new Microsoft Ribbon interface, I was able to work through this book just fine. I would recommend this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for a class, not for "on-the-fly", February 26, 2011

By 

vcauhape - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft Office Access 2003: Comprehensive Concepts and Techniques, CourseCard Edition (Shelly Cashman) (Paperback)

This book has an excellent format for people who may be looking to teach themselves how to use the program in their spare time, or for a class. It consists of a series of lessons based around building different kinds of databases. However, I purchased the book to learn how to handle information given to me in a pre-formatted, already built-up database. Finding applicable info to solve my problems was a little like pulling teeth; your own teeth, using a string and a doorknob, to be exact. However, the instructions given for the lessons are clear, and if my purpose for purchasing the book would've been different, I would've given it 4-5 stars. If you're for a book to help you learn how to use a database that someone else put together, don't buy this book.