A document retrieval assistance method has a user interface with an interactive guidance function. In response to a search query, search results including a title list of retrieved documents is displayed alongside a separate display of topic words extracted from the retrieved documents which reflect the search results. In particular, a topic-word graph is displayed alongside a list of titles of the retrieved documents and the interface enables browsing of the documents using the topic words. Further, the interface permits emphasized display of the list of titles of the documents through direct selection of the titles displayed in the list or through selection of the topic words. Further, an associative search can be executed using a selected document to refine the original search results and develop updated displays of the search results and topic words contained in the documents.