Human Relations Area Files: eHRAF World Cultures

Basic Search:

• Enter your search terms
• Check the box if you want to search by keywords.  
  • Note: Keyword search is problematic because there's no guarantee your search terms will match those used by the database to describe the same topic.  Many of your hits may not be relevant.  
• Leaving the box unchecked will limit your hits to those containing your terms when they are used as categories by the database.  
  • You will retrieve fewer hits this way, but they may be more relevant.  

Advanced Search:

• This approach gives you the option of adding specific cultures, subjects and keywords to your search.  You can search using any or all of the options in combination.
• AddCultures:
  • Clicking on the "Add CULTURES" button opens a screen on which you can choose one or more cultures you wish to research.  They're arranged by region (default) as well as by name in an A-Z index and by country.  Sometimes the proper name for a culture differs from the name commonly used.  eHRAF assigns an alphanumeric code to each culture to avoid confusion.  Clicking on the code will bring you some indexing information on that culture.  
  • You can also click on "Add All" if you wish to search all cultures.  
  • When you've selected the cultures you want to research, click on the "Add Cultures" button at the lower right to add your selections to the search.  
• AddSubjects:
  • Note that you can click on "And" or "Or" to combine your subject selections using either of those Boolean operators.  Checking "And" will narrow your search and return fewer hits; checking "Or" will  broaden your search and return more hits.  (For more information on how Boolean operators work, check Search Techniques in the ISU Library Basics Library Guide.)
  • Clicking on the "Add SUBJECTS" button opens an alphabetical list of major subject headings.  Clicking on the arrow icon next to each subject heading divides the heading into more specific subheadings.  Choose any or all of the subjects you wish to research.  
  • Each subject heading is also denoted by a three-digit code called an "OCM Identifier."  ("OCM" stands for "Outline of Cultural Materials.")  Clicking on the code brings up more information about the heading, as well as broader and narrower headings if available. 
  • Clicking on the "A-Z Index" button brings up an alphabetical list of subject terms, including improper terms with links to the proper terms.  This can be a useful way to search when you don't know what the proper term is. Clicking on the check box in front of each term adds it to the search in its correct form. 
    • You can jump to a particular part of the index by entering a term in the "Filter Index" box.  For example, typing "dogs" in the filter box brings up several places where dogs appear in the subject index.  You can add any or all of the terms.  
    • Clicking on the "OCM Identifier" button opens a hierarchical list of the the three-digit subject codes for the "Outline of Cultural Materials." The OCM is an ethnographic subject classification system. Clicking on the arrow next to each code opens a list of more specific codes.  Clicking on the code itself reveals more information about the code.  The bar along the top of the display permits you to jump to a specific section of the OCM Identifier list. 
•  AddKeywords:
  • A "keyword" is just any significant word indexed in a record.  Keywords do not include articles such as "a," "an" or "the."  Also excluded are the Boolean operators "And," "Or" and "Not."  
  • Add any words you'd like to search in the "Enter Keyword(s)" box.  
    • You can use the "And" or "Or" check boxes above the keyword search box to narrow or broaden your search.  Using "And" will narrow your search, retrieving only those documents that include all the terms you put in the keyword search box.  Using "Or" will broaden your search, retrieving documents that contain any of the words you put in the keyword search box.  (For more information on how Boolean operators work, check Search Techniques in the ISU Library Basics Library Guide.)
    • To search for a phrase, enclose it in quotation marks: "United States."  
    • To search for words beginning with the same letters (such as plurals), use an asterisk.  For example, wood* will retrieve wood, woods, woody, wooden, etc. 
      • To increase the relevance of your hits, place the asterisk as far to the right in the word as possible.  For example, searching for liberty or liberties by using lib* is a bad idea: that search will also retrieve library, librarian, librarians, libation, libations, liberation, liberal, liberals, libel, etc.  
  • In the smaller box between "AddSubjects" and "Add Keywords," you can choose how the keywords you select will be combined with the subjects you've selected.  Choosing "And" will narrow your search and retrieve fewer hits; it will retrieve only those documents which include your subjects as well as your keywords.  Choosing "Or" will broaden your search and retrieve more hits; it will retrieve documents that have either your subjects or your keywords.  Choosing "Not" will also narrow your search; it will retrieve documents covering the subjects you've selected, but exclude from those search results any that contain the keywords you've selected.   (For more information on how Boolean operators work, check Search Techniques in the ISU Library Basics Library Guide.)
  • The "Text Examples" link opens a list of search examples to demonstrate effective ways to search.
  • The "Search Strategies" link opens a new tab with much more detailed information about searching eHRAF. 

Browse Cultures:

• This search option lets you browse through an alphabetical list of cultures. 
• The "Filter Index" box permits you to jump to a particular spot in the culture list. 
  • The more characters you enter, the more precise your spot in the list will be.  But if you enter a culture name not recognized by eHRAF, you will receive an alert message that no items have been found.  Use the Backspace key to remove characters until you start getting hits. 
• Each entry provides a "Use:" statement to link you to the culture name used by eHRAF, if applicable. 
• Each entry also provides links to:
  • The "Culture Summary:" a summary of the culture, with links to relevant subject terms.  A "Cite" button shows the reference as portrayed in the Chicago Manual of Style, APA 6th Edition, MLA 7th Edition and Harvard Reference Format 1.  You can also export the citation to EndNote (available free to ISU students, staff and faculty on the library's web page), RefMan, BibTeX and RefWorks. 
  • The "Collection Description," which includes:
    • "Brief Culture Description" - an abbreviated form of the "Culture Summary" noted above.
    • "Collection Information" - a summary of the documents in the eHRAF collection which provide information on the culture.
    • "Collection Indexing Notes" - information about some of the terms used in the collection, including definitions and references to subject headings which provide more information.
  • The "Collection Documents:" a list of the documents about the tradition, filed alphabetically by author.  
  • Clicking on the document title opens the document's publication information.  
  • You can navigate through the document by clicking on the links under "Table of Contents" on the left side of the page, or by choosing a page from the "Page List" in the upper right of the box, or by clicking on the "First" or "Last" page buttons along the top of the box.  
• The default browse setting is alphabetical, but buttons near the top of the screen permit browsing by region or by country. 

Browse Subjects:

• This option lets you browse through an alphabetical list of subjects. 
• The "Filter Index" box permits you to jump to a particular spot in the subject list. 
  • The more characters you enter, the more precise your spot in the list will be.  But if you enter a subject not recognized by eHRAF, you will receive an alert message that no items have been found.  Use the Backspace key to remove characters until you start getting hits. 
• Each entry provides a "Use:" statement to refer you to the subject term used by eHRAF, if applicable. The reference also includes a three-digit "OCM Identifier," a code for the "Outline of Cultural Materials." The OCM is an ethnographic subject classification system.
• Each entry also provides links to:
  • The "Subject Description:" a description of the subject term, with a fuller definition of the term's meaning and scope.  The description also includes links for broader, narrower and related subjects, if available.  
  • "Related Documents," which opens links to documents on related subjects. 
• The default browse setting is alphabetical, but buttons near the top of the screen permit browsing by major subjects or by OCM Identifier, a three-digit code for a subject in the Outline of Cultural Materials. 

Browse Documents

• This option takes you to a list - arranged alphabetically by surname - of the authors who have written books or other documents included in the eHRAF database.  
• If an author has contributed more than one document, each document will have a separate entry.
• You can jump to a particular surname by using the Filter Index at the top of the list.  
• Clicking on the document title opens the document's publication information.  
• You can navigate through the document by clicking on the links under "Table of Contents" on the left side of the page, or by choosing a page from the "Page List" in the upper right of the box, or by clicking on the "First" or "Last" page buttons along the top of the box.  

Getting more help

• On the Basic Search page - the opening page when you first access this database - there's a Resource Center on the right side of the page.  Clicking on the links for "Getting Started" or "Search Examples and Methodology" will bring you far more information than can be included in this Library Guide.  
• There's also a "Help" link at the top of the page near the right side.  

eHRAF World Cultures differs from most databases in that indexing is done at the paragraph level.  Your search results may also be displayed at the paragraph level..  For example, after a successful search, you may see something like "8785 paragraphs in 147 documents in 11 cultures."  That simply means that 11 cultures met your search parameters, 147 documents cover those 11 cultures, and 8,785 paragraphs in those 147 documents contain terms you included in your search.  

After a Basic Search or an Advanced Search:

• Assuming you have more than one hit, clicking on the geographic area for each hit opens a summary box which provides the subregion for each culture, culture name, OWC (Outline of World Cultures) alphanumeric identifier, subsistence type, samples, number of documents containing your search terms, and number of paragraphs containing your search terms. 
• Note that most of the columns can be sorted higher to lower or lower to higher.  
• Clicking on the culture name opens another summary page of the documents and the paragraphs which contain your search terms.  
  • In the Documents box, clicking on the author and title of a document will change the view in the Paragraphs box to bring up the links to the relevant paragraphs in the document. 
  • Each relevant paragraph has a link to show the paragraph or show the document page on which the paragraph occurs.
  • The subjects covered are in the rightmost column in the paragraph box.  Clicking on the subject headings will open a box with more information on the heading.  
  • Each document also features a "Cite" button.  Clicking on it will show you the document's citation in the formats for the Chicago Manual of Style, APA 6th Edition, MLA 7th Edition, and the Harvard Reference Format 1.  Note you can also export a citation to EndNote (available for free download to ISU students, faculty and staff), RefMan, BibTeX and RefWorks.  

  • You may also email or print the paragraphs or pages you select using the checkboxes next to the text displayed. 

    • If you choose "Print," the selection will appear in a printable format.  Clicking on the "Print" button near the top of the page opens the print menu.  Note that you must choose the "Destination" of the text.  Clicking on that button will open choices for the printer you want to use as well.as for saving the text in PDF format, sending it to OneNote, printing to Google Docs or other options. 

    • If you choose "Show Page," you will also have the option to set a permalink to it.  If you choose "Permalink," a URL will appear which you can copy into a document or into a email.  You will be able to access the URL later without logging in, although if you try to search further in the database, you will be prompted to log in if you're off campus.  

Getting more help

• On the Basic Search page - the opening page when you first access this database - there's a Resource Center on the right side of the page.  Clicking on the links for "Getting Started" or "Search Examples and Methodology" will bring you far more information than can be included in this Library Guide.  
• There's also a "Help" link at the top of the page near the right side.