Query assistant based on experience capitalization for information retrieval systems

When searching information a first and crucial step is query formulation. However it is a difficult task for users. This paper introduces a new approach to help users formulating their queries. It proposes to benefit from past search experiences to help users when formulating queries. The user can incrementally construct his query visualizing how other users have carried out searches with the terms he uses currently. The visualization relies on a graph representing past queries related to the current query constructed. So, past experiences are shared to help users in formulating their own queries. An implementation illustrates the approach through a scenario of use.