Context-driven information retrieval

A system and method for retrieving and displaying search results includes an input unit, a generator, and a query manager. The input unit receives text for a query from a document and retrieves the context surrounding the text within the document. The generator (22) generates at least one augmented query to at least one search engine (24) using the text and the context. The query manager sends the augmented query to the search engine and retrieves the output of the search engine. The invention further includes a domain manager (28) connected to the input unit and to the query manager. The domain manager includes a domain selector for selecting a domain from a predetermined list of possible domains and a search engine selector for selecting the at least one search engine from a predetermined list of search engines associated with the selected domain. The invention also includes a reranker (26) connected to the query manager that receives at least one search result summary. The reranker includes at least one processor for generating at least one measure of similarity between the search results summaries and at least one of the text and the context and a sorter for ordering the search results summaries using the measures of similarity.