Writing a function to get data from SQL database

Hi,

 I want to write a function, where I supply it with the sql statement, and it will return an array/dataset with the results from the database it it.

 I've got this code which I know gets the data. but I don't want to have to write this code all the time.
SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["LocalSqlServer"].ConnectionString);
SqlDataAdapter a = new SqlDataAdapter
("select * f ...