Google has just made multitasking that little bit easier, using Google docs and their new Google Research tool which you can use side by side. Simply named 'Research' the new tool allows you to conduct searches for terms related to your document or search for images, maps and websites from a panel that appears next to your document.
Here's how to search for things using Research:
Maps: searching for a location will automatically bring up a Google map. You can insert this into your document as is or edit it by zooming in or out.
Photos: These can be inserted directly into your document after conducting a search. The great thing is that photos can be filtered to include those that are licensed for free use - a way to avoid copyright issues.
Webpages: for webpage results, hovering over the link will allow you to see a preview of the page. If you like what you see click 'insert link' to add it to your text.
What I like about this tool is that it allows you to insert a citation, automatically formatted, into your document. All you have to do (after you've inserted a link) click 'cite'. Google will add a footnote number to the link in your text and generate a properly constructed footnote at the bottom of the page.
If Research doesn't automatically appear next to your document all you have to do is select Research from the Tools menu, or alternatively press Ctrl + Alt + R on your keyboard.
Here's a great video from
Bright Ideas that shows how to use Research and shares their first impressions of Google's new tool.
