The research pane is a new feature in Microsoft Office Word 2003. It allows you to perform research from within Word. You can look up what a word means, translate a word, or search encyclopaedia sites, if you have Internet access.

 

To turn the research pane on, use one of the following commands:

-          Hold down Alt and click on the word you want to research.

-          Click the Tools menu and click Research.

-          Click the Research button () on the standard toolbar.

-          Right-click on a word and click Look Up.

 

Once you perform one of these actions, the research pane will open:

 

 

Since we had our cursor on a word, the definition of the word appears immediately in the pane.

But, let’s say we want to learn facts about coyotes rather than a definition.  We can click the drop-down arrow at the top of the research pane to choose a different reference source, like the sample on the left.

 

As soon as you click a different source, your search will start over and display results from that source. Each result will have the following elements:

-          A bolded title

-          A plus or minus sign next to the title, so you can expand or shrink results

-          A brief description of the result

-          A link to the full result, which may be an encyclopaedia entry, a movie, sound clip, pictures, or one or more of those elements.

 

Here’s an example of an Encarta Encyclopaedia search, where you can see all of those elements:

 

 

 

That’s how easy it is to do research from within Word!

 

You can look at additional research services (which are usually paid items) by clicking the Get services on Office Marketplace link. This will open the Research Services section of the Office Online Web site in your default Internet browser.

 

You can also modify your research options by clicking the Research Options link at the bottom of the research task pane. When you click that link, this dialog box will open:

 

 

You can check or uncheck any item in this list to include it in the drop-down menu. (If you’re not sure exactly what a particular service is, click to select it and then click the Properties button.) You can click the Add Services button to add paid services. You can also click the Update/Remove button to search for new sites to add or remove existing sites. The third button, Parental Control, allows you to implement a filter to protect children while they research.

 

Once you’re done modifying the research options, click the OK button.