Created: Mon
2 May 2005
Last modified:
Name: Javed Aslam
Office: 338 WVH
Phone: 373-8169
E-mail: jaa@ccs.neu.edu
Name: Virgil Pavlu
Office: 214 WVH
Phone: 373-2502
E-mail: vip@ccs.neu.edu
Lecture: Mon Tue Wed Thu
Room: 108 WVH

Required: [MIR] Modern Information Retrieval by Ricardo Baeza-Yates and Berthier Ribeiro-Neto.
Errata for this text are available on-line. If you are concerned that something in the text might be a typo, please check the errata available here: Errata for Modern Information Retrieval by Ricardo Baeza-Yates and Berthier Ribeiro-Neto.
Optional: Managing Gigabytes 2nd edition by , Moffat, and .
Optional: in Information Retrieval by Sparck Jones and Willet
Optional: Foundations of Statistical Natural Language Processing by Christopher D. Manning and Hinrich Schütze
Optional: Information Storage and Retrieval Systems: Theory and Implementation by Gerald J. Kowalski and Mark T. Maybury
Optional: Automatic Text Processing by Gerard Salton
Optional: Information Retrieval: Data Structures and Algorithms by William B. Frakes and Ricardo Baeza-Yates
Optional: Information Retrieval 2nd edition by C.J. van Rijsbergen, Butterworths
There will be four written assignments, generally handed out on Thursdays and due the following Thursday; please see the syllabus for an exact schedule. Some of the problems will be difficult, and it will often be helpful to discuss them with others. Feel free to form study groups. However, the idea is for everyone to understand the problems and experience working through the solutions, so you may not simply "give" a solution to another classmate. In particular, each student must write up his or her own homework solutions and must not read or copy the solutions of others. If you work with others on a problem, you must note with whom you discussed the problem at the beginning of your solution write-up.
Homework is due at the beginning of class on the announced due date. You will be granted one homework extension, to be used at your discretion, no questions asked. After the first late assignment, unexcused late assignments will be penalized 20% per calendar day late. I normally will not accept assignments after the date on which the following assignment is due or after the solutions have been handed out, whichever comes first. If you will have a valid reason for turning in an assignment late, please see me in advance to obtain full-credit.
There will be two projects. You may work on them alone or in groups of at most two. You will have approximately 10 days to complete the projects.
Master students will be required to write and present a survey paper on an advanced topic in information retrieval, to be determined in conjunction with the instructor.
There will be a final exam. The final exam will be held in class during finals week.
Homeworks: 30%
Projects: 40%
Final: 30%
All work submitted for credit must be your own.
You may discuss the homework problems with your classmates, the teaching assistant(s), and Professor Aslam. You must acknowledge the people with whom you discussed your work, and you must write up your own solutions. Any written sources used (apart from the text) must also be acknowledged; however, you may not consult any solutions from previous years' assignments whether they are student or faculty generated.
Please ask if you have any questions about academic honesty as it applies to ISU535.