Sometimes you may need to use resources other than academic articles or textbooks. This is referred to as "grey literature." Grey literature includes blogs, conference materials, datasets, discussion forums, dissertations and theses, government and local government papers, interviews, market reports, newsletters, pamphlets, policy statements, pre-print articles, research reports, survey results, social media... basically anything! Below are some examples of grey literature and where to find it.
This includes thesis and dissertations, but also "working papers" that have yet to be published. You can find these resources in online repositories like Explore Bristol Research or subject repositories like APSA Preprints, CrimRxiv, EdArXiv, LawArXiv... try this list of subject specific repositories to find one covering your area of study.
Information on the structure or policies of UK Government can be found on the GOV.UK website. For older government publications, statistics and information search the UK Government Web Archive. For Parliamentary papers, see the databases below.
Access to UK parliamentary papers - House of Commons sessional papers from 1715 to 2010.
UK parliamentary papers from the Westminster Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly, National Assembly for Wales and Scottish Government. Documents available on the day of publication.
The Department of Health and Social Care is made up of 29 agencies and public bodies. The following produce publications, disseminate news and conduct research of interest:
The Education Policy and Research Service (EPRS) provides a monthly digest of the latest research and policy from key government bodies, universities, and thinktanks summarised into two-page reports. UoB staff and students have access to this service, but you will need to contact your subject librarian or eprs-admin@bristol.ac.uk for an access code.
Some databases index grey literature along with journal articles. The ones listed below specialise in policy documents.
Use Policy Commons to discover and follow high-quality policy research from 210 countries and territories produced by world’s leading policy experts, charities, think tanks, IGOs and NGOs. Includes publications from inactive organisations that may not be available elsewhere. For help with searching see https://coherentdigital.net/resources2-1
NB: This database can be browsed on campus without signing into the Overton site. Off campus, users need to register on the Overton registration page with their @bristol.ac.uk email address. Overton allows users to discover policy documents in 180 countries and explore their links to each other and to the academic research that has informed them. Overton indexes work from governments, universities, IGOs, NGOs, research funders, publishers and think tanks to understand their role in the policymaking landscape. Users can track the evolution of ideas all the way from academic and think tank research to government reports and legislation.
The organisations below can be useful for finding global information. Click on the i symbol to find out more about them.
A charity is a charitable organisation set up to provide assistance to those in need. They are not-for profit organisations, usually with a specific theme such as health, education or another social, medical or economic basis. They are officially recognised (e.g. in the UK, they must be registered with and are regulated by the Charity Commission).
Some charities will commission and publish research in their area of expertise, for example:
Look up charities working in the area of your interest and see if any of them have published any research.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines a think tank as 'a group of experts who are brought together to develop ideas and give advice on a particular subject' (Cambridge Dictionary 2020).
Whilst some think tanks are independent, others have political leanings. As always, read critically and evaluate resources to assess their suitability for inclusion in your writing. This list may help you identify think tanks in your area of study.
Newspapers aren’t generally considered as grey literature sources because they are "formally published." But news sources can be helpful in assisting in the discovery of grey literature. For example, news items may flag the latest research report or findings, record speeches, contain statistics and other data.
A business data statistics portal containing more than 1 million statistics from over 22,500 sources (including both national and international data); over 80,000 topics in 177 multidisciplinary categories, ranging from agriculture to media and marketing; market data, consumer behaviour, demographics and opinion polls; 4,500 Statista Dossiers and Industry Reports; 41,000 studies & reports from third parties.
The UK’s largest collection of social, economic and population data sources.Includes major UK government-sponsored surveys, cross-national surveys, longitudinal studies, UK census data, international aggregate, business data, and qualitative data. Intergovernmental organisations include International Monetary Fund (IMF), Office for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank. Research institutes include NatCen, Institute for Social and Economics Research (ISER) and the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) among many others.
Grey literature can be really useful because it is often more current - it bypasses the peer review/ publishing process which means that it can be useful when looking at new or emerging areas of research. However, as it's not peer reviewed it can be of variable quality. You will need to assess the quality of this information yourself and decide if it appropriate to include in your review. Below are some useful tools for evaluating the information your are looking at.
A self-help tutorial on evaluating the quality of readings.
Mike Caulfield. CC BY 4.0, via Hapgood.US
STOP – What is the source of the information? What is the reputation of the information and the source?
INVESTIGATE – What are you reading? Who produced the information? Knowing the expertise and agenda of the source is crucial to understanding the significance and trustworthiness of the information.
FIND BETTER COVERAGE – look for trusted sources to verify the information – “go out and find the best source you can on this topic, or, just as importantly, to scan multiple sources and see what the expert consensus seems to be”
TRACE – try and find the original context for the information you are looking at. Viewing it in it’s original context will help you get a sense of how accurately the information it being presented.
Developed by staff from Meriam Library at California State University, the CRAAP Test looks at five criteria and suggests questions to ask yourself about of the criteria to help you establish the value of the work. Follow the link to see the full details for each of the criteria.
Currency
Relevance
Authority
Accuracy
Purpose
Meriam Library. CC BY 4.0, via California State University
