Tech it Out!: March 2013

Google Research Tool

The Research tool makes it easy to add information from the web to your documents and presentations. To access the tool:

Select the Research option from the Tools menu.
Use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + ⌘ + Shift + I on a Mac, Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Ion a PC).
Right-click on a specific word and select

Research.The Research tool will appear along the right-hand side of your document or presentation. You can start a search by typing into the search bar. You can narrow your search to specific types of results (e.g. images, quotations) by using the drop-down menu in the search bar.

Researching different types of information relevant to your document or presentation

When conducting a search, the Research tool will show you different types of results — web results, images, quotations, maps, reviews, personal results, and more.

Web Results

Under the web results category, you’ll find a number of websites related to your search. If you select one of these results, you’ll see several options:

Select Preview to see a preview of the website. Click on the site link at the top of the preview pane to open this page in a separate window, or click the arrow on the left edge to close the preview.
Select Insert link to add a link to the website into the body of your document.
Select Cite to create a footnote citation of this web result within the body of your document.

Images

Images will appear in the general search, as well as an image search. Narrow your search results to only images by selecting “Images” from the drop-down menu in the search bar.

Quotations

Narrow your search results to only quotations by selecting “Quotes” from the drop-down menu in the search bar. Once you have selected the quotation you’d like to use in your document, click Insert to add it to your document with a footnote citation (or linked to the author’s name in a presentation).

Article Citations

Narrow your search results to only articles by selecting “Scholar” from the drop-down menu in the search bar. Once you have selected an article you’d like to read or reference, click on that entry in the search results. You will see a Web or PDF hyperlink in the upper left-hand corner of the entry that will take you to a web or PDF version of the article itself. You will see a Cited by hyperlink in the upper right-hand corner of the entry, showing how many times the article has been cited, that will direct you to the Google Scholar list of sources that have cited this article. Clicking on either of these links will open the result in another window.
To insert an article citation into your document, select the article and click Cite. In presentations, you may insert a link to the article by pressing Insert.

Places

When conducting a search in the Research tool for a geographic location, your search results may include a map. You can edit this map by selecting Edit and then zooming in/out or dragging the map. Once you have the exact map image you’d like to include in your document, click Insert. You can also drag and drop the map image into your document.

Dictionary

Use the Research tool's dictionary to search for definitions, synonyms, and usage examples. If you don't already have the Research tool open, you can access the dictionary by clicking the Tools menu and then selecting Define.