Google and Research

Use Google Trends to see what keywords and current events are trending, based on what people are Googling.

• Compare terms to each other
• keep track of its popularity over a certain period of time
• see where terms are being searched all over the world
• and look through related queries and topics.

Ex: search "Olympics" in the query box, and change the timeline limiter. Notice which years and months see a spike in searches. Add an athletes name or a host country in the "compare terms" query box and find related queries. 

Google Books will allow you to search and browse full-texts of books on the internet for free.

• Click on a title of a book in Google Books, it will also help you find nearest copies that available to you.
• Set up a library that allows them to save their search history

 Ex: search "Isabel Allende" and browse through the titles Google Books has available. 

To use Google Translate, change the language settings to reflect the different languages you would like to translate.

• Enter the text or vocabulary, and Google will generate the translation of the query. It will also give examples, conjugations, and information about. 
• Comprehend vocabulary or information in different languages when conducting research.
• It should be cautioned, however, that Google Translate might not be as accurate as other translation dictionaries or native speakers, and may not account for colloquialisms.

Ex: type in the word "ticket" in English, and translate it to different languages. 

Google Maps can be useful for research when trying to find:

• distances
• local and community information
• comparing with other maps
•  business decision making.

Ex: How many coffee shops are in the Lee's Summit, Missouri area? 

Google Drive can a cloud storage that can be a great tool for research, collaborative group work, and creating flexible documents that you can save online. Create and organize folders that make sense for your academic projects, and share documents among your collaborators. 

Google Docs is a word processor. You can save your document online, share with other collaborators, and edit in real time. 

Google Sheets is a document processor that allows you to create flexible tables to organize data and save it in your online Google Drive, or download in a different format.  

Google Slides has several templates for creating presentations and visual keynote aids. You are able to save these presentations online which makes them easily accessible on various devices.