Library

Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

 

The University of Sydney Library acknowledges that our buildings, collections, and practices exist on unceded Aboriginal lands. We recognise the diversity and knowledges of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and students across all the lands the University stands on, and respect the ongoing connection Aboriginal people have to these lands, their cultural practices, knowledge systems and histories. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present, who have handed down custodianship to each generation for more than 60,000 years. 

 

Money, J. (2021). Yilabara (Now). Filmed on Gadigal Country. Commissioned by the University of Sydney Library

First Nations Hub

Finding grey literature

Identify different types of information and appropriate sources for your study or research
About grey literature
Searching for grey literature
Evaluating grey literature

About grey literature

Grey literature is defined as “information produced by all levels of government, academics, business and industry in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing”. (GreyNet)

Examples of grey literature include:  

  • statistics
  • policy
  • government reports
  • conference proceedings 
  • unpublished theses
  • brochures and newsletters
  • technical reports
  • patents and standards 
  • open source data sets
  • clinical guidelines and clinical trials registers.

Grey literature sources can help you find:

  • research in progress and the latest research findings and data 
  • information about unsuccessful studies that have not been published
  • reports and policy documents that are not available in traditionally published sources
  • current statistics
  • local community information. 

Grey literature can present alternative perspectives to your research, balance published research bias, and help identify research gaps.

Searching for grey literature

Find grey literature resources on government, industry, professional and community organisation websites and directories. Here are some suggestions:

Institutional repositories Policy and government reports Open source datasets Archived websites
Sydney eSscholarship repository Australia.gov.au  Australian Government datasets Pandora 
Australasian Open Access Repositories Analysis & Policy Observatory (APO) - (formerly Australian Policy Online) Research Data (ANDS)  Australian Government Web Archive
TROVE - National Library of Australia   re3data - Registry of Research Data Repositories  Internet Archive: Wayback Machi
OpenDOAR   Data Repositories - Open Access Directory  

Evaluating grey literature

Grey literature is rarely peer reviewed, so you will need to critically evaluate each source to ensure accuracy and quality. 

You can use the AACODS checklist as an evaluation tool. 

Related information

Patents Standards Datasets Systematic reviews

  • Related information

    Patents Standards Datasets Systematic reviews

    • Contact

    For help with grey literature, contact a librarian.

    Contact us

  • Contact

    For help with grey literature, contact a librarian.

    Contact us