A semantic query over a corpus of data is constructed using a graphical user interface to create an aggregation of graphical representations of annotations associated with a plurality of data elements contained within the corpus of data and graphical representations of search terms contained within the plurality of data elements. The aggregation includes at least one annotation and at least one search term. The relative positions of the graphical representations of the annotations and the search terms are manipulated within the aggregation within the graphical user interface to express relationships among the annotations and search terms, yielding a visual spatial representation of the semantic query. The annotations, search terms and expressed relationships define the semantic query that is used to search the corpus of data.