Human Kinetics

Grey literature is material "produced on all levels of government, academics, business, and organization in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing i.e. where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body." (definition from GreyNet).In other words, this is literature that has not been published through 'traditional means'. This material is often not indexed or listed in large databases, library catalogues, or other mainstream information sources.

What types of information are considered grey literature?

Grey literature can include:

• Research and technical reports
• Policies
• Government Reports
• Conference proceedings
• Theses
• Fact sheets
• Annual reports

See this Grey Literature Tutorial (by UofT) for more information about what is grey literature, why we might search it and where to find it.

Searching for grey literature can be challenging. How and what you will search will depend on why you are conducting the search (what is your objective or goal?)  and the question you are asking. The below template (created at UofT) can be useful to help you document your grey literature search.

To conduct a grey literature search you will need to do the following:

1) Identify Relevant Authorities, Informants, Organizations

Ask yourself: Who are the relevant authorities/informants/organizations who would publish information related to my question?

• Consider: who publishes and/or stores information related to your topic?

If you don't know:

1) Google the topic and look through the first 5-10 pages for names of relevant authorities, organizations and stakeholders. 

2) Review CADTH's 'Grey Matters' tool of health organizations. (pro-tip: use 'browse categories' tab)

3)Is there someone you can ask? Other researchers?

4) Browse library created Grey Literature Guides. Eg. StFX Grey Literature Guide, UofT Grey Literature Page, or NS Health Library Grey Lit Page

You can use the below honeycomb model to help brainstorm potential sources of grey literature information. 

2) Search and Document

There are many different ways you could search for Grey Literature. For example: 

• Website Browsing/Searching  (going to a specific website & searching)
• Advanced Google Website Search (using Advanced Google to search a specific website)
• Grey Literature Database Search (see below for links)
• Search Engine Searching (eg. DuckDuckGo or Google)

The below links contain some grey literature resources for you to consider. 

Go to Advanced Google to search specific websites

1) Enter your search

Tips:

• Use boolean operator to combine synonyms eg. children OR child OR young people
• Use quotations for exact phrases eg. "pet therapy"

2) Enter the URL of the website you want Google to search

3) Consider selecting file type (eg. PDF if you are looking for reports)

If you come across a federal website that is no longer available, look for it on the Internet Archive.

• To use the Internet Archive:
• Copy & paste the URL from the missing webpage into the top search bar of the Internet Archive
• Look for blue circles on the calendar, which indicate the date(s) of successful captures of the website
• Hover over a blue dot and click a timestamp to go to the archived page.
• See here for more information on how to do a basic search  on the Internet Archive.

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