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any literature or document that has not been published through traditional academic sources.
Why is it useful?
Prepare a search plan before you begin to collect and screen documents. Use this template to organize and document your search results.
The sources below offer an overview of grey literature and relevant sources.
Customized Government Search
Canadian, US and International Government Documents Search - code courtesy of MADGIC, Carleton University
Non-governmental Organizations (NGO) and Intergovernmental Organizations (IGO) Searches - code courtesy of GODORT
Determine the prominent organizations in your research field and search the website for a list of publications, reports, analyses
Often, Google can be the best tool to search for documents and reports published on the web. When recording your search methods, it is important to document the search terms used and the date the searches were performed.
Google Advanced will combine or exclude search terms, limit results by region, file type, i.e. .pdf (helpful when limiting to reports), domain (i.e. .gc.ca)
Google Scholar will only retrieve documents from academic and professional sources. Note: You will have to browse through a lot of journal articles to find the grey literature reports.
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