In a general aspect, an approach to query specification includes processing a query by identifying one or more terms and validating the terms using a first corpus of media elements. The result of the validation is used to form a modified query. In some examples, identifying the one or more terms is based on a second corpus of media elements, which may include a different type of media than the first corpus. In some examples, the validating of the terms includes accepting input from a user according to parts of the elements of the first corpus presented to the user.