This study examines the facets and patterns of multiple Web query reformulations with a focus on reformulation sequences. Based on IR interaction models, it was presumed that query reformulation is the product of the interaction between user and IR system. Query reformulation also reflects the interplay between the surface and deeper levels of user interaction. Query logs were collected from a Web search engine through the selection of search sessions in which users submitted six or more unique queries per session. The final data set was composed of 313 search sessions. Three facets of query reformulation (content, format, and resource) as well as nine sub-facets were derived from the data. In addition, analysis of modification sequences identified eight distinct patterns: specified, generalized, parallel, building-block, dynamic, multi-tasking, recurrent, and format reformulation. Adapting Saracevic's stratified model, the authors develop a model of Web query reformulation based on the results of the study. The implications for Web search engine design are finally discussed and the functions of an interactive reformulation tool suggested.

Research has demonstrated that people engage in multiple types of information‐seeking strategies when using information retrieval (IR) systems; unfortunately, current IR systems are designed to support only one type of information‐seeking strategy: specifying queries. The limitation of the existing IR systems calls for the need to investigate how to support users as they shift from one information‐seeking strategy to another in their attempts to achieve their information‐seeking goals. The focus of this study is on the in‐depth investigation of shifts in the micro‐level of user goals—“interactive intention” and information‐seeking strategies that users engage in within an information‐seeking episode. Forty cases of library uses were selected from four different types of libraries for this study. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data identifies four types of shifts of interactive intentions and three types of information‐seeking strategies. The results of the study are discussed to understand the nature of the interactive IR process, and to further suggest their implications for the design of adaptive IR systems.

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