Google has some staffers touring college campuses trying to teach students the merits of using Google Apps. In the "back to school spirit" Google has added some features to its Apps programs that are sure to appeal to students and regular Joe's alike.Google has slowly been adding to the functionality of Google Docs. It is now offering four new tools to help aid in whatever it is that you happen to be writing.

The first addition is the Dictionary/Thesaurus. You now can highlight a word and look up its definition and synonyms using Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Look for this feature in the Tools menu, just below the Spell-check and Word Count. Google says you're just two clicks away from being able to look up and hear pronunciations of hundreds of thousands of words. These tools are available in English only. First, you highlight the word in question, then use the pulldown menus to get to the Dictionary app. It opens up a secondary window with a detailed definition and etymology of the word. You can also hear it pronounced, which is pretty cool. The process is the same for finding synonyms.

Not only to you have access to the dictionary, but Google has also added the vast knowledge stores of the Encyclopedia Britannica to Docs. You can look up information directly in the docs screen without having to perform a separate search for your query.

I performed a simple search for "moon." It delivered some basic descriptions for the word moon and several links to the Britannica Web site, which you can then choose to navigate to to read about your query.

Using the same set of tools, you can also search for images of highlighted words. I searched for images of the moon directly from within Docs. Google delivered some images, and then lets you insert them directly into your document.

Lastly, Google has added a tool that will allow you to create a table of contents as the first page of your document.

These aren't groundbreaking enhancements, but are definitely nice upgrades in usability.