1. An information retrieval system, comprising: a knowledge model database configured to store a knowledge model for a knowledge domain, the knowledge model defining a plurality of entities and interrelationships between one or more of the plurality of entities, each of the plurality of entities including: an abstract subject concept, an abstract object concept, and a relationship between the abstract subject concept and the abstract object concept; and a concrete subject instance of the abstract subject concept and a concrete object instance of the abstract object concept; a knowledge base identifying a plurality of items including electronic documents or multimedia, each of the plurality of items being associated in the knowledge base with at least one annotation comprising a metadata derived from a content within an item within the plurality of items and indexed according to at least one of the plurality of entities, thereby creating a catalog identifying at least one of the entities in the knowledge model as associated in the knowledge base with the item; and a template repository storing a plurality of templates, each of the plurality of templates automatically generated from, and including at least one of the abstract subject concept, the abstract object concept, and the relationship from the knowledge model, as indexed within the catalog created from the knowledge base; and a query processing server configured to: receive, from a client computer, a message encoding a selection of a template in the plurality of templates; retrieve the templates from the template repository, transmit the template to the client computer, receive, from the client computer, a statement, the statement including an instantiation of the template, wherein: the abstract subject concept or the abstract object concept in the template is replaced with a first term provided by a user and comprising the concrete subject instance or the concrete object instance, respectively; and the relationship in the template is replaced with a second term provided by the user, and query the knowledge base using the statement including the instantiation of the template to generate a result listing identifying an item associated in the knowledge base with the metadata including the first term and the second term.