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eHraf is a massive cultural database Containing over 350,000 pages of descriptive information on cultures around the world from ethnographies. Subject-indexed at the paragraph level for precise retrieval of information on all aspects of cultural and social life from 108 cultures around the world.

Produced by the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) at Yale University. Not all of the Area Files are in eHRAF, and it might be valuable to consult the Libraries' microfiche HRAF collection.

http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/ehrafe/

Click the Search tab.

Quick Search:

Enter a word or phrase in the Quick Search box (top right hand of the screen) to search the full text of all the eHRAF documents.

Text Search: Searches combinations of:

Subject codes (OCMs)

• Enter codes manually or

• Click add to select codes from a list. This opens the A-Z Subject index in a separate window. Scroll through the index to find the term you need. Click on note for a description of that subject. Click add to add this subject to your search.

• You may enter up to three different subject terms. The default operator combines the terms with AND. Use the drop down menus to change the Boolean operator to NOT or OR.

Words in the full text or titles of eHRAF documents

• Enter only one word or phrase in the "Exact word or phrase" boxes. You may enter up to three terms, combined with AND, OR, or NOT. Use the drop-down menus to enter the Boolean operators.

• To search for words or phrases in Chapter Titles, enter them in the "Exact word or phrase" boxes. Click the box that says Paragraphs to change to "Chapter Titles." Do not enter any OCM subject terms above.

• To limit your search to one or more cultures in eHRAF, select the culture from the A-Z list at the bottom. Use Ctrl-click to select more than one culture.

Click Search to run your search.

• Boolean Operators ( and, or, not) focus/broaden your searches.

• Truncation: use * to truncate. Example: child* retrieves child, child's, children, etc.

Search results appear as a list of cultures that include matching terms. Results are sorted by geographic region (Africa, Asia, etc.), and then in A-Z order within each region. After each culture name, a note explains how many matches were found. Each "match" is a single paragraph. E.g., "25 matches in 3 documents" means that 25 paragraphs were found, and these paragraphs come from three different book-or article-length documents.

• Click on the culture name to see a list of results for that culture.

Marking Records

• Use the browser's Print command to print the current document view.
• Use the browser's Save command to save these results. Change the format to text file. Click Save.
• Use the browser's Send command to send the current page by email.
• It is not possible to export entire documents from eHRAF; only one paragraph or section at a time.

The electronic collection is not a complete representation of HRAF. The Microfiche collection available in the Rivera library contains an additional 200+ cultures, and many as yet undigitized materials.