Enhancing Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Study of Best Practices

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Li, Siran, Stenzel, Linus, Eickhoff, Carsten, Bahrainian, Seyed Ali
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Li, Siran
Stenzel, Linus
Eickhoff, Carsten
Bahrainian, Seyed Ali
author_facet Li, Siran
Stenzel, Linus
Eickhoff, Carsten
Bahrainian, Seyed Ali
contents Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems have recently shown remarkable advancements by integrating retrieval mechanisms into language models, enhancing their ability to produce more accurate and contextually relevant responses. However, the influence of various components and configurations within RAG systems remains underexplored. A comprehensive understanding of these elements is essential for tailoring RAG systems to complex retrieval tasks and ensuring optimal performance across diverse applications. In this paper, we develop several advanced RAG system designs that incorporate query expansion, various novel retrieval strategies, and a novel Contrastive In-Context Learning RAG. Our study systematically investigates key factors, including language model size, prompt design, document chunk size, knowledge base size, retrieval stride, query expansion techniques, Contrastive In-Context Learning knowledge bases, multilingual knowledge bases, and Focus Mode retrieving relevant context at sentence-level. Through extensive experimentation, we provide a detailed analysis of how these factors influence response quality. Our findings offer actionable insights for developing RAG systems, striking a balance between contextual richness and retrieval-generation efficiency, thereby paving the way for more adaptable and high-performing RAG frameworks in diverse real-world scenarios. Our code and implementation details are publicly available.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_07391
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Enhancing Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Study of Best Practices
Li, Siran
Stenzel, Linus
Eickhoff, Carsten
Bahrainian, Seyed Ali
Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems have recently shown remarkable advancements by integrating retrieval mechanisms into language models, enhancing their ability to produce more accurate and contextually relevant responses. However, the influence of various components and configurations within RAG systems remains underexplored. A comprehensive understanding of these elements is essential for tailoring RAG systems to complex retrieval tasks and ensuring optimal performance across diverse applications. In this paper, we develop several advanced RAG system designs that incorporate query expansion, various novel retrieval strategies, and a novel Contrastive In-Context Learning RAG. Our study systematically investigates key factors, including language model size, prompt design, document chunk size, knowledge base size, retrieval stride, query expansion techniques, Contrastive In-Context Learning knowledge bases, multilingual knowledge bases, and Focus Mode retrieving relevant context at sentence-level. Through extensive experimentation, we provide a detailed analysis of how these factors influence response quality. Our findings offer actionable insights for developing RAG systems, striking a balance between contextual richness and retrieval-generation efficiency, thereby paving the way for more adaptable and high-performing RAG frameworks in diverse real-world scenarios. Our code and implementation details are publicly available.
title Enhancing Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Study of Best Practices
topic Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.07391