Google Research Tools in Drive

"Search It Up!"

@joe_edtech

My daughter coined a new phrase recently in a meeting with her teacher, or at least I'm giving her credit for it. There was some question about the history of an activity at her school and the teacher said, "I just don't know that information." The student looked at him and said, "Well then get out your iPad and let's search it up!"

I'm not sure that is always the best way to meet the Common Core requirements on inquiry in the classroom, but I do think that the relatively new feature of Research Tools inside Google Drive is an interesting way to add some inquiry and research to even the most workaday writing assignment. How many times have you been grading student essays and written, "Can you prove this?" Well, now with a couple of clicks you can change your language and just tell them to, "Search it up!"

Get to a search menu in any Doc

In any Document Drive, if you simply click "Tools" and select "Research" from the drop down menu, you can open a research pane and look up topics without navigating away from your document. Not only that, the search bar gives you all of the features of the search bar in regular Google Search along with an easy to select option to look only in Google Scholar, for images, quotes, or for dictionary entries.

Every item, including regular web entries, gives you a preview option. Perhaps my favorite thing about Google Research is that when an image is dragged to a document from the research bar, a footnote citation is automatically added. I can't tell you how many years I've preached to staff and students alike that at the very least we should be teaching our students to cite the sources of the digital materials they include in papers and projects. Research tools makes that a no brainer. And you can also choose between APA, MLA, and Chicago for the style of citation.

Sample "Research" Pane

Personally, I love the idea of including more research in student projects, and I even like the idea of automating the citation process. However, I have two major reservations about Research Tools inside of Google Drive as a regular research solution. First, it certainly doesn't foster the idea that good research and good writing needs to be planned out carefully in advance. And secondly, and less significantly, all of the automatic citations are done in footnote instead of endnote form. That is not a deal breaker, it would simply require a different way of thinking and teaching about citation than what we are used to in high schools.

Research tools can be extremely useful if students use Google Drive to conduct research, compose outlines, and collaborate with teachers and fellow students. And it is an excellent tool for teaching about proper citation. So I see potential, and maybe it requires a slightly more creative thinker to realize the real power of this tool. 

But in the mean time, I certainly do hope that students and teachers alike use this tool to "Search it up!"

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If you'd like to access my direction sheet on getting started with Research Tools in Drive, click here.