Internet access to Beaglebone Black over ethernet in Ubuntu

I have Ubuntu 12.04 installed on my laptop, and the latest version of Angstrom on my Beaglebone Black.

Is there a way to share my laptop’s internet to the BBB, using an ethernet cable? I have done this with the raspberry pi, but couldn’t find anything online describing how to do this with the BBB. I use a usb dongle to connect to the internet.

I’m sure many users must be facing this issue, those who don’t have ethernet connectivity at their homes/workplaces and use a usb dongle to access internet like me.