Principles of Information Retrieval

Recommended Prerequisites

NA

Teaching Methods

Classes have a theoretical and practical component, and will be complemented by tasks made available in the Moodle platform. Work groups will be formed to explore specific topics.

The final grade is the result of the sum of the following elements: participation in class, postings in Moodle, problem-solving exercises and tests.

Learning Outcomes

This theoretical and practical course aims to enable students to:

a) Organize and plan a search, evaluate the results, and retrieve relevant information using the available technologies;

b) Understand and apply a search syntax in specialized databases;

c) Select the appropriate information resources for different subjects;

d) Use the documentation and help instruments provided by the systems to evaluate them in terms of objectives, coverage, features and search syntax.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Information retrieval: General concepts

2. Free text search

3. Databases structure and controlled vocabulary search

4. Database selection

5. Other components of search strategies

6. Other tools for information retrieval available on the World Wide Web.

Head Lecturer(s)

Maria Manuel Lopes de Figueiredo Costa Marques Borges

Assessment Methods

Assessment
In-class participation and discussion group postings in Moodle: 30.0%
Resolution Problems: 30.0%
Mini Tests: 40.0%

Bibliography

Becker, Joseph & Hayes, Robert M (1964). Information storage and retrieval: tools, elements theories. New York: John Wiley.

Houghton, Bernard & Convey, John (1977). Online information retrieval systems: An introductory manual to principles and practice. London: Clive Bingley.

Meetham, Roger (1964). Information retrieval: The essential technology. London: Aldus Books

Soergel, Dagobert (1985). Organizing information: Principles of data base and retrieval systems. San Diego: Academic Press.

Vickery, Brian Campbell (1970). Techniques of information retrieval. London: Butterworths.