Grey literature:
- is broad and amorphous
- can be overwhelming to search without a clear goal
Keep in mind the type of information that you are interested in (e.g. theses, reports, conference materials etc.) and use this to help plan where you search.
- Start with more focused collections of information, rather than the general internet. This may include specific websites, databases, or repositories.
- When you have exhausted these options then try broader web searching. This may include advanced searches of Google and/or Google Scholar.
- Decide how you will search each grey literature source. Our Simple approach to searching page can guide you on selecting keywords to use. Each of the sources will allow different searching techniques so you may need to adapt your searches from one to another.
An example plan
Topic: government regulation of pseudoephedrine sales
Type of information |
Where to search |
Government and industry reports |
Google |
Theses |
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global
WorldCat
|
Repository materials |
OAIster |
Keywords
Searches will be conducted using different combinations of these keywords:
- pseudoephedrine regulation
- sudafed regulation
- legislation pseudoephedrine sales
- legislation sudafed sales
Systematic searches
Our Systematic reviews guide has information related to grey literature searching for researchers conducting systematic or scoping reviews.