# Literature reading matrix — template & guide

The reading matrix is the standard tool for turning a pile of sources into an
argument: one row per source, columns that separate **what the source says**
from **what you think**. This template follows that convention (see the
Toronto Metropolitan University library guide linked below).

## The columns, and why they're split

- **research_question** — the question this source serves. A matrix with one
  question per sheet stays honest; five questions in one sheet doesn't.
- **method / sample_or_corpus** — copy what the paper states about itself. If
  you can't find it, write "not stated" — never guess a sample size.
- **key_findings_source_words** — their claim, in your careful paraphrase of
  *their* words. Findings live here and nowhere else.
- **limitations_they_admit** — the authors' own limitations section. This is
  the column reviewers ask about.
- **themes** — your clustering. Tags, not sentences.
- **my_analysis** — your interpretation, deliberately on the far side of the
  source's own words so you can never accidentally quote yourself.
- **citation_ref_zotero** — the cite key from your reference manager.

## Worked example

Row 1 in the CSV is a real, live source (a Pew Research Center short read on
AI summaries and click-through), filled the way a careful first pass looks:
headline-level finding marked as such, scope flagged "verify on the page",
author credit deferred to the page rather than invented. That is the whole
discipline: **what is verified is marked; what isn't stays blank.**

## Use it with Marqly + Zotero (complement, not replacement)

1. Capture each article as you find it — one click into a board per chapter or
   question (AI summary and tags ride along on Pro).
2. Fill the matrix from the saved copy later; Marqly's
   [semantic search](/faq/what-is-semantic-search) finds the source again when
   you remember the idea but not the title ("clicks drop when summary shown").
3. Keep formal citations in Zotero or your reference manager — Marqly does not
   format bibliographies and won't pretend to. The matrix links the two via
   `citation_ref_zotero`.
4. When a chapter's reading is done, share the board as a
   [public page](/faq/how-do-i-share-a-board-publicly) so a supervisor or
   writing group can see the corpus without an account.

## Honest limits

A matrix is only as true as its rows. Never let an AI summary stand in for the
`key_findings` column without opening the paper — summaries are navigation,
not evidence. And a filled matrix is not "done reading"; it is "ready to
argue from."

## Further reading (primary sources)

- Toronto Met University library, [Organize your readings with a literature review matrix](https://pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca/graduatereivews2/chapter/organize-your-readings-with-a-literature-review-matrix/)
- Zotero, [zotero.org](https://www.zotero.org/) — reference management this template complements.