0

I thought "do information retrieval" and "perform information retrieval" may be OK but seems informal. Could anyone recommend a verb which can lead information retrieval in a formal way, for instance appropriate for the verbiage in a resume?

PS: I have searched the Internet but found no such a combination. Which online tools can I use to find such usages by grammatical patterns? For example, verb+"information retrieval" as a query?

Improve this question
9
  • 1
    The issue being queried here simply wouldn't be likely to arise with most native speakers, because they wouldn't talk about doing or performing information retrieval in the first place. They'd normally just say they were retrieving information.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 13:39
  • 1
    If I had to reference the act/process of "information retrieval* with a verb, the exact context would probably make a difference, but in general I'd be more likely to choose something like perform, implement, carry out rather than do. But that's just a matter of personal preference (combined with exact context). There's no "right/wrong" issue here.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 13:46
  • 1
    It would be quite natural to say I do information retrieval, not data analysis. But if someone asked What did you do at Company XYZ? I'd probably avoid "echoing" the verb to do in the question, and reply with something like I mainly worked on information retrieval during the 3 years I was there.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 13:56
  • 1
    From a comment, you are experienced at information retrieval would be common on a resume. (As a skill.) Please edit your question to provide this context.
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 14:00
  • 1
    Resumes should have action verbs when listing activities. As such, performed might be OK. It depends on the other verbs in your other bullet points. You might want to say: "* Improved the information retrieval service" or something like that.
    – Lambie
    Commented Sep 26, 2018 at 14:05

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

I can see limited circumstances where you would want to say something like this - mostly technical, either business process or computing.

Perform is perfectly formal. Carry out would also be fine. Do is less formal, you are correct.

If it's not in a technical context, then I agree with comments that this is not a natural way to say it - "retrieve data" is a more natural form.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .