Which option is NOT a recommended tip when conducting online research for an essay?

• A. use broad keyword searches
• B. look for reliable sources
• C. keep track of sources
• D. specify relationships between keywords

Answer: (D)

The main idea here is using smart search strategies to get useful results quickly. In online research, you want to narrow your query, verify sources, and organize what you find. Broad keyword searches tend to flood you with many irrelevant results, making it hard to spot credible material or to gather just what you need for your essay. It’s much more effective to combine specific terms and connect them in meaningful ways—using exact phrases with quotation marks, and using operators or natural-language relationships to link ideas. This way you pull in sources that actually discuss the concepts together, rather than scattering across a wide, unfocused results set.

That’s why keeping track of sources and seeking reliable, credible materials are solid practices: they help you build a trustworthy foundation for your argument and ensure you can cite correctly later. Even more, specifying how your keywords relate to each other—by combining terms that reflect the relationships you’re exploring—makes your search sharper and more productive. In short, avoid overly broad searches and use precise, connected keywords to find relevant, reputable sources efficiently.