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HHS 323: Women and Gender in American History

Where to find the news and articles you'll need for your research paper.

Analyzing Articles: The Table Method

As you collect articles and book chapters and blog posts and other sources, it's important to understand not just what they're saying but where they're coming from.

Consider creating a table or spreadsheet like the one below as a way to track each source individually so you can start to analyze them as a group.

Title, author, source

(or you can use the full citation and then have a ready-made bibliography!)

Publication year

If you do include the full citation in the first column, it can still be useful to include the year of publication here as well so you can sort them chronologically.

Purpose

Why was this article/chapter/blog post/tweet/etc. written? What's it trying to get across to you the reader?

Position

How does the author (or authors) feel about the topic? Is their bias obvious or subtle? Who are they trying to convince (if anyone)?
       
       

 

Adapted by the WCC (and subsequently the Library) from Health Sciences Literature Review Made Easy: The Matrix Method by Judith Garrard