Advanced Search

Advanced Search in eHRAF allows you to add a combination of culture names, subjects and/or keywords to construct a custom search. It also allows for multiple clauses and boolean operators.

These are powerful search features that you can begin using right away, but may also take some time to master.

This section of the user guide contains a run through of the advanced search page layout, menus and submenus, and some tips and tricks for getting the most out of Advanced Search.

Quick Start

Begin by expanding the sidebar menu by clicking on the menu hamburger button in the top left and then clicking the Advanced Search button in the sidebar.

Once in Advanced Search, you will see a three-part search form. From left to right: there are boxes for Select Cultures, Select Subjects, and Enter Keywords, along with Any or All dropdowns for each section. To do an initial search, select the culture name(s), OCM subject(s) and/or enter any keywords, then click Search.

• You can fill in these boxes in any order you wish.

• Be mindful of the boolean operator radio buttons which allow you to restrict or expand your search by deciding which terms you require to appear together.

• The add_circle plus button on the far right of the search form adds another blank form, allowing you to add an additional set of search terms.

• Advanced Search does not require you to fill in every section of the form in order to begin searching.

Select Cultures

Culture names can be selected from a list of OWC terms in order to restrict your search to specific cultures of interest. You may combine your Add Cultures selections with Subjects or Keywords in the Advanced Search form.

To add a culture, click on the Select Cultures text box. A box will pop up with a list of popular cultures for searches. Either select one of these or start typing a culture name in the box. Suggested results will appear in the list of suggested cultures.

If you still do not see the culture you want, click Lookup and search for more cultures below the list of cultures. A sidebar will then appear on the right to allow you to look more in depth for a culture. There are two ways to browse through cultures: A-Z Index (an alphabetical list of cultures) or Region (a list of cultures by Region and Subregion). While you are browsing with either method, you can also perform a search in a text box on the top of the right sidebar. You can select one or more cultures and then click the Add button to add the culture to your Advanced Search selection.

Above the Select Cultures box is a dropdown, which is set to Any of these Cultures by default. The text will update to Any of these 1 Cultures, Any of these 2 Cultures, and so on as you add select more cultures. If you click the dropdown, you can change from Any to None, which will return results for all cultures except for the ones you’ve selected.

Select Subjects

The Add Subjects box in Advanced Search allows you to narrow your search by restricting results to paragraphs that match a particular subject or subjects. You can combine Subjects with Cultures or Keywords in the Advanced Search form.

To add a subject, click on the Select Subjects text box. A box will pop up with a list of popular subjects for searches. Either select one of these or start typing a subjects name in the box. Suggested results will appear as a list of suggested subjects.

If you still do not see the subjects you want, click Lookup and search for more subjects below the list of subjects. A sidebar will then appear on the right to allow you to look more in depth for a subjects. It has three ways to browse through cultures: A-Z Index (an alphabetical list of subjects), Major Subjects (a hierarchical list of subjects), and OCM identifier (list of subjects ordered by OCM identifier). While you are browsing with any method, you can also perform a search in a text box on the top of the right sidebar. You can select one or more subjects and then click the Add button to add the culture to your Advanced Search selection.

Tip

Using Add Subjects alone is recommended for finding information about broader concepts rather than specific keywords in the text; in other words, information that is not easily described with keywords or in cases where various keywords could be used to describe it.

Above the Select Subjects box is a dropdown, which is set to Any of these Subjects by default. The text will update to Any of these 1 Subjects, Any of these 2 Subjects, and so on as you add select more subjects. If you click the dropdown, you can change from Any to None or All. This is what each value will do:

1. Any: returns results with any of the selected subjects

2. None: returns results for all subjects except for the ones you’ve selected

3. All: returns results that have all subjects

Enter Keywords

The final option in the Advanced Search form is to select keywords for your search by typing them into the Add Keywords box. Add Keywords can be used alone or in combination with Add Cultures and Add Subjects on the Advanced Search page.

Text entered into the keywords field will be matched against the full text of paragraphs.

Subjects and Keywords Boolean Operator

Between the Select Subjects and the Enter Keywords boxes are AND and OR buttons. This is a boolean search operator to narrow or expand your search. AND is active by default.

Here is an example to demonstrate the difference between the two: you have selected the subjects agriculture and diet with the Any active for subjects, along with the keyword corn. These are the results you will get for AND and OR.

• AND will return results that correspond to both the selected subjects and entered keywords. Using AND with the example will return results that have either agriculture and diet as subjects and also have corn appear in the result. It will not return results that have corn in the text without the subjects or results that have the subjects without the keyword corn.

• OR will return results that correspond to either the selected subjects and entered keywords. Using OR with the example will return results that have either agriculture and diet as subjects or have corn appear in the result. This will return results that have corn in the text without the subjects and results that have the subjects without the keyword corn.

Add a second search form

In Advanced Search, it is possible to add a second search form. You may wish to do this in order to narrow results to your specific criteria by including or excluding an additional set of Subjects and/or Keywords.

Caution

Adding additional search forms is most recommended for advanced users who are familiar with using eHRAF and Advanced Search to tailor their search terms.

To add a second search form, click the add_circle plus button on the far right of the search form. This will add another Select Subjects box and another Enter Keywords box. You can then then remove either the first or second row of search parameters by clicking the remove_circle minus button on the far right of the row you wish to remove. Note that this will not remove the selected culture.

To the left of the second row is a boolean operator that determines the relationship between the second form to the first form. This will determine how the search is conducted.

• Selecting AND will require a match for both sets of search parameters in a single search operation. This will return results that match both search clauses at the same time. This will typically result in fewer results.

• Selecting OR will search for either form in its entirety. This will typically result in a great number of results.

• Selecting NOT will search for the first form and exclude only the parameters of the second form.

Search History

We store your last ten recent Advanced Searches and display them in a table below the advanced search form. The table lists the date or time the search took place and the cultures, subjects, and keywords included in the search. Click on a row to repopulate the advanced search form with that search.

If you wish to delete any previous search, click the delete delete icon for a particular row. You can also delete all previous searches by clicking the delete delete icon at the top right of the list.

Please note the following:

• Search history is tied to the particular device and browser you are using, not your user account. If you use eHRAF on a different device or browser, your search history will not transfer over. If you wish to save the results of a search query to your user account, you can use a Notebook.

• If you have 10 searches in your history and then perform an additional search, the new search will replace your oldest search

• If you perform an identical search to a search in your history, the time the search was performed will update instead of storing the same search twice