CS888 Advanced Information Retrieval Individual Software Project Coursework Semester 1 2026 | University of Strathclyde

The Assessment Outline

This assessment will teach students to apply information retrieval concepts and theories to address real world problems. The project consists of the following tasks: problem and user information needs identification, and the design, implementation and evaluation of information access systems.
By the end of the project students will be able to do the following:

1. Students will be able to apply the theories and technologies used to construct modern Information Retrieval systems.
   
   
2. Students will be able to design, implement and evaluate information retrieval systems or techniques. The Assessment is made up of 3 outputs as follows:
   
   
3. The system [40%] - Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1)
   
   
4. The presentation [20%] - Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1)
   
   
5. The report [40%] – Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1)

This assessment contributes 40% to the final grade for this class. You will write an exam during the December exam diet and exams will contribute 50%. You will also complete weekly online quiz assessments, which will run from week 1 to week 10.

Project Brief

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure universal access to healthcare, justice, and economic prosperity by 2030. Achieving these goals require effective information access systems that can support decision making, raise awareness, and empower people.
For this assessment, you are asked to:

1. Select an SDG of your choice and identify a specific information related problem relevant to that goal.
   
   
2. Design and implement an information access system that addresses the identified problem. You could select to implement either a traditional retrieval system, recommender system, question answering system or a conversational search agent.
   
   
3. Evaluate your system in terms of retrieval effectiveness, potential impact or any other evaluation criteria discussed in CS888.

Your work should show that you understand how the information access system works technically and how well it helps advance your chosen SDG(s), including where it falls short.

Figure 1: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

CS888 Examples of Projects

The system should directly address a specific SDG through its functionalities or features, and novelty marks will be awarded based on both the originality of the system’s features and the uniqueness of the information it provides. In your submission, it is helpful to clearly signpost these criteria by explaining which SDG your system addresses and how it contributes to that goal, as well as what features or resources are innovative or distinctive. For example, a system may be considered original because it provides specialised information or introduces a new way of accessing or presenting data related to a particular issue. See below for examples illustrating how a system can align with an SDG.

Example 1: Human Trafficking Search

The aim of the system is to support researchers, policymakers, NGOs, and journalists in finding authoritative resources on human trafficking, including international and national laws, policies, reports, and news articles. The system aligns with SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, particularly Target 16.2 :“End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence”. The system provides a search function that allows users to submit queries and retrieve relevant results. Users can further refine their searches by category (e.g., law, policy, report, or news), geographical region, and type of trafficking. Overall, the system improves accessibility and visibility of anti-trafficking knowledge.

Example 2: Endometriosis Medical Search - EndoSearch

Women’s health remains an understudied area, with limited awareness and insufficient medical therapies for many conditions affecting women. Although endometriosis impacts millions worldwide, awareness of the condition remains low, there is no known cure, and many women continue to suffer in silence. EndoSearch is an information retrieval system that indexes and analyses research articles, clinical studies, and medical reports related to endometriosis and women’s health. It enables healthcare professionals, researchers, and patients to access evidence-based information on diagnosis, treatment options, and emerging scientific findings. The system addresses SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being by advancing women’s health and ensuring more equitable access to medical knowledge and care.

Approach: How Should the System be Implemented?

Since Information Retrieval focuses on accessing unstructured information, your chosen approach and system functionality should reflect this. You may use any Information Retrieval platform or library of your choice, such as Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, Solr, or Terrier.

You may choose to create your own collection or use an already existing collection. If you take this approach, you must index at least 100 documents or items. This will involve setting up the backend (e.g., creating a collection, defining a retrieval strategy or model, and indexing documents) and developing a frontend interface for interacting with the system.

Alternatively, you may use an API that provides access to indexed documents. However, the API must supply unstructured information objects. APIs that return only structured data (e.g., spreadsheets, JSON files, or other formats) without reference to unstructured documents such as textual data, videos, or images, are not permitted. If you choose the API approach, more development effort on the frontend is expected compared to the first approach.

Submissions

The submission should be done using MyPlace assignment submission link. Submission should be done through a zipped file with the following components.

1. The system [40%] - Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1). The assessment of the system will be based on functionality, technical quality, and relevance to the chosen SDG. The system submission should include a readme file. The readme file should provide steps on how to run your system.
   
   
2. The presentation [20%] - Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1). The presentation should be not more than 5 minutes. It should introduce the SDG, the information access problem, the design of the system and the description of your system. The description of the system should be in a form of a system demo.
   
   
3. The report [40%] – Thursday 26th November before 5pm (week 10, semester 1). The report should provide a description of the problem and SDG, methodology, evaluation, and critical reflection.

Marking Rubric

1. System (40 marks)

The system will be assessed based on four dimensions: functionality, novelty, technical quality and alignment with SDG. These will be evaluated based on five levels: excellent, good, satisfactory , fair and poor. Table 1 provides the assessment criteria for the system.

Functionality assesses how well the system operates and how user-friendly it is and will be focusing on the utility and usability of the implemented features. Novelty evaluates the creativity and originality of the proposed solution and will consider how innovative or distinctive the approach is in addressing the identified problem.

Technical quality examines the robustness of the technical implementation, the soundness of the design, and the thoroughness of the documentation provided. Alignment with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) assesses how clearly and effectively the project aligns with the chosen SDG. This will assess how the provided functionalities and resources contribute to addressing the selected goal.

Table 1: System Evaluation Criteria

2.  Report (40 marks)

The report should have five sections: introduction, design and implementation, results and discussion and conclusion. The Introduction should define the problem, explain its significance, and link it to the chosen Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). The design and implementation section should provide the system design and methodology, explain technical decisions, and describe how the system was implemented. The evaluation should outline the methods used to assess the system’s performance, present results and a discussion of limitations. The conclusion should summarise the key findings and suggest possible future improvements or directions. The whole report should be between 2,000 to 4, 000 words, and approximately 5 to 10 pages including references and appendices. Make sure you use a standard citation style such as ACM referencing.

Table 2: Report Evaluation Criteria

Here are some questions to help you prepare your report. Introduction (5 marks)

1. What problem are you addressing, and who is affected by it?
   
   
2. Why does the problem matter? Support your answer with evidence such as reports, statistics, or published research.
    
3. Which SDG(s) does the problem link to, and how does information access relate to them?
   
   
4. What solution do you propose, and why is an information access system a suitable approach?

Design and Implementation (10 marks)

1. What does your system do, and who is it for?
   
   
2. How did you design it? Describe the main components and how they fit together. Include a diagram if it helps.
   
   
3. Which tools, data sources and methods did you use, and why did you choose them over alternatives?
   
   
4. How does the system deliver its main functions, for example how it finds, ranks, or presents information?
   
   
5. What design decisions did you make to suit your intended users, for example their language, literacy, devices, or connectivity?

Results and Discussion (20 marks)

1. How did you evaluate the system, and what did you measure?
2. Why are these methods appropriate for your problem and your users?
3. What results did you obtain? Present them in tables or figures.
4. What do the results show about how well the system works and how far it advances your SDG(s)?
5. Where did the system perform poorly, and who might it serve less well? What could explain this?
6. What are the limitations of your evaluation, for example the size of the data, the choice of test users, or the metrics used?
7. How do these limitations affect how far your results can be trusted?

Conclusion (5 marks)

1. What did you build and evaluate?
2. What are the key findings of your evaluation?
3. What did you learn from the process, both technically and about the problem itself?
4. What could be done next to improve the system or the evaluation?

A Note on Evaluations

Formal user studies with members of the public need ethics approval, which is not practical within the timescale of this coursework. You may therefore ask classmates to test and evaluate your system.

Participation must be voluntary, and you should not collect names, contact details, or other personal information. Keep any feedback anonymous and tell participants what the evaluation involves before they take part.

Evaluation should be a fair exchange across the class. If you ask classmates to test your system, you are expected to give your time to test theirs in return. Keep each evaluation short, ideally no more than 15 to 20 minutes per participant, so that everyone can take part without it affecting their own work.
 
In your report, state how many evaluations you completed for other students. This is recorded for information only and does not affect your marks. Its purpose is to encourage fair participation across the class.

3.  Presentation (20 marks)

The presentation is a 5-minute video pre-recorded demonstration of the system and should be submitted through MyPlace. The presentation should include the following: description of the SDG you are addressing, the information access problem, the design of the system and the description of your system (in a form of a system demonstration) .

Table 3: System Evaluation Criteria

In Week 5, you are required to submit the topic you are working on by 23rd October at 5 PM. The submission should include the topic of your project, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) you are addressing, a brief description of your idea, the proposed evaluation approach for your system, the tools and frameworks you intend to use, and the collection, dataset, or API that will support your work. This submission will not be assessed but you will get feedback. You may use the template in Figure 2 to submit your topic.