Real life information retrieval: a study of user queries on the Web

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Real life information retrieval: a study of user queries on the Web

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ACM SIGIR Forum archive
Volume 32 , Issue 1 (Spring 1998) table of contents

Pages: 5 - 17

Year of Publication: 1998

ISSN:0163-5840

Authors

Bernard J. Jansen	United States Military Academy, West Point, NY
Amanda Spink	Univ. of North Texas, Denton
Judy Bateman	Univ. of North Texas, Denton
Tefko Saracevic	Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ

Publisher

ACM New York, NY, USA

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Downloads (6 Weeks): 14, Downloads (12 Months): 191, Citation Count: 88

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abstract cited by index terms collaborative colleagues

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ABSTRACT

We analyzed transaction logs of a set of 51,473 queries posed by 18,113 users of Excite, a major Internet search service. We provide data on: (i) queries --- the number of search terms, and the use of logic and modifiers, (ii) sessions --- changes in queries during a session, number of pages viewed, and use of relevance feedback, and (iii) terms --- their rank/frequency distribution and the most highly used search terms. Common mistakes are also observed. Implications are discussed.

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