Grey literature is generated by a wide variety of public and private organisations and can often be disseminated in hundreds of journals and web pages. This makes it challenging to find grey literature, but various tools and techniques have increasingly simplified our ability to locate it.
Finding the grey literature you need, requires a mixed approach. It involves using library databases and search engines such as Google or Bing, as well as employing techniques such as browsing websites of organisations relevant to the research area, or performing hand searches.
It's important to approach your search systematically as grey literature can sometimes be difficult to find. Before you start searching, ask yourself:
This will influence how and where you search. For example, if you wanted to know the most common cause of traffic accidents in Australia over the last ten years, you might start by looking on Australian government websites - there may be official records for that kind of information.
You should search those resources that make the most sense for your research question.The links and tabs below offer information about using these techniques to search, but if you have any questions you can contact a librarian for more help.
The library subscribes to many databases which index different types of grey literature, including conference papers, reports, government documents, newsletters, and statistics.
You can use the library databases to search for grey literature. You can also use the library databases to help you find information to guide you towards other sources of grey literature. Techniques such as author searches and citation searching on database materials can help you seek out important grey literature.
Google and Google Scholar can be useful search tools when looking for grey literature. Results returned will not necessarily be grey literature as they search many academic papers as well. It is useful to be aware there are a few tricks that make it quicker and easier to get to what you need.
Check the Google and Google Scholar search tips sheet for examples of using operators to further refine your searches.
Both the University of South Australia and University of British Columbia also have useful tips for grey literature searching with Google and Google Scholar.
Search tip: use Google to search across multiple Australian, state, territory and local government website pages by including site:gov.au (or site:vic.gov.au to limit to Victorian bodies) in your search
Example:
Tips for using search engines:
Common search engines only search a small percentage of the web. Much of the information is not discoverable by web crawlers such as Google. Other specialised deep web search engines and portals, can be used to discover this "hidden" information.
BASE is one of the world's biggest search engines for academic open access resources.
CADTH Grey Matters
A practical search tool for evidence based medicine.
A deep web search engine for all health related information.
A deep web search engine with a focus on science and technology information.
When looking for grey literature it is worthwhile thinking about if there is an
that works in the area related to your information need. Once you have identified likely organisations you can often locate relevant publications and research on their websites.
Don't let a question about how you cite a piece of grey literature be a problem. Most of the library citation guides give clear examples on how to cite grey literature material such as conference papers and newsletters.