Evolution and Evaluation of Document Retrieval Queries

This short paper introduces some ideas for the application of Genetic Programming to the task of producing queries for the accurate retrieval of documents on a particular topic of interest. This application will involve expanding the initial query given by the user, using extra words that have various semantic relationships to the words of the original query via the use of a system such as WordNet, and using Genetic Programming to optimize how this expansion is done. The aim is to produce an optimal general template of expansion, that can be used for any particular query a user may make. The method suggested is one that will be used to produce a search enhancer that can be used with existing search engines.