PUBLISHED: 07:26 EST, 16 May 2012 | UPDATED: 09:56 EST, 16 May 2012
Google has added a controversial ‘research pane’ to Google Documents, which makes it easier to find facts on the Internet and put them straight into your own work.
If you use Google’s online word processor to write – be it for a book, letter, dissertation, speech or other – Google’s online word processor will scour the Internet for relevant information and display it on the right-hand side.
If the search giant finds something you like, you can insert it with just a click of a button.
Google Docs: Type in Mona Lisa, and click Research, and images, links and facts appear on the right
Ask Google when their arch-nemesis Microsoft was founded, and the answer pops straight up
Now there is a fear that students in particular will be inclined to grab this information and put it straight into their work, making plagiarism that much more tempting.
Users can specify if they want Docs – which has recently been re-christened as Drive by Google – to search all of Google, or just keep searches restricted to images and quotes.
Google software engineer Sarveshwar Dudd said: ‘If you find something you like, you can add it by clicking the insert button or, for images, by dragging them directly into your document.
‘From the research pane, you can search for whatever info you need to help you write your document.
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