A method and system for retrieving information in response to a query by a user. The method includes the steps of receiving a signal s having a value corresponding to a relevance-ranking algorithm score of a retrieved document, receiving a signal q having a value corresponding to the number of words in the query and a signal v having a value corresponding to the coordination level of the retrieved document and query (i.e., the degree of overlap between the document terms and the query terms), and generating an adjusted score s1 dependent on the signal s, the signal q and the signal v. The adjusted score s1 takes the coordination level into account for small values of q and gradually decreases the importance of the coordination level as q increases. The system of this invention includes a computer-based system for carrying out the method of this invention.