I know this is a gray area of whether or not this is history, but I'm writing a paper about the role of women in the Odyssey, and i'd like to use the Iliad as a secondary source, but I don't have time to reread the Iliad to find areas where Athena directly or indirectly helped/interacted with Odysseus.
I know she frequently assisted the Achaeans, but could anyone remind me of any specific events that would effect Odysseus?
Yes. Odysseus and Diomedes both pray to Athene in book 10 before beginning their night raid. Although Athene does not feature directly too much in the narrative, I think it is implied that she protects them as they sneak around the Trojan camp stabbing people in their sleep and stealing horses. Odysseus also dedicates some armour he stripped from a Trojan's spy corpse to Athene.
Source Butler's translation (Athene is listed as 'Minerva' and Odysseus as 'Ulysses' in this version).
For what it's worth I think you should consider how useful the Iliad is as a 'secondary source' when studying 'the Odyssey' due to the intricacies of the Homeric question but that's your lookout I guess.