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Psychology Literature Reviews

Overview of narrative literature steps and resources to assist students

What is grey literature?

Information produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing i.e. where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body.

Grey literature is self-published and typically comes from:

  • Government agencies
  • Research institutes
  • Organizations or companies
  • Associations

Step 1: Determine what type of grey lit you need 

  • existing reports
  • policy literature
  • working papers
  • trial results
  • etc.

Step 2: Research/brainstorm stakeholders, authorities, and sources of grey lit for your review

You may find it helpful to try to answer the following questions while considering if you’ll be searching locally, regionally, nationally:

  • Who creates the information?
  • Who collects the information? Who gathers and publishes it?
  • Who disseminates the information?
  • Who has access to it?
  • Who is the target audience? 

Step 3: Conduct targeted searches in the sources you have identified

  • Targeted website browsing/searching
    • National government departments and agencies
    • International government departments and agencies
    • Non-governmental organizations
      • NGO Search = NGO Search is a Google Custom Search that searches across hundreds non-governmental organization (NGO) websites. NGO Search is a project of the International Documents Taskforce (IDTF) and the Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT) of the American Library Association (ALA). This is a spreadsheet of NGOs included in the project.
    • Universities
    • Think tanks, institutes, and research centres
      • Policy Commons = This database brings together reports, working papers, policy briefs, data sources, and media -- from NGOS, think tanks, and research centers around the world. 
      • Canada Commons = Includes some full text public policy documents from Canadian institutes, think-tanks, and research groups.
    • Professional bodies/associations
    • Conference proceedings
      • Databases containing conference papers: PsycINFO, Web of Science, CINAHL, ERIC
  • Google searching
    • Google Advanced Search = this is an excellent means of searching specific regions, file types, and the latest updated information.
    • To efficiently locate grey literature, use Google's site search operator in combination with relevant keywords. This technique allows you to target specific websites or domains, for instance use site:gov.bc.ca to limit your search to British Columbia government sites. See Google Search Tips for more information.
    • Example search: site:gov.bc.ca (dementia OR alzheimer)
  • Grey literature databases and indexes
    • OpenGrey = A search portal for European grey literature
    • CADTH Grey Matters = A free online tool for finding health-related grey literature that are not published commercially
    • OAIster = A general grey lit database containing digital resources from open-archive collections worldwide

Step 4: Document your search

Thorough documentation of your search strategy is crucial for several reasons: it ensures reproducibility, facilitates updates or expansions of your research, and provides transparency for others reviewing your work.

  • Sources Consulted: List all databases, websites, and organizations searched.

  • Search Strategy: Detail keywords, operators (Boolean, truncation, proximity), and applied filters (e.g., date, language).

  • Search Dates: Note the date(s) each search was performed.

  • Results: Record the number of results from each search.

  • Inclusion/Exclusion: Briefly explain your criteria for including or excluding documents.

For a structured approach, utilize the provided template, Grey Literature Search Results Template (link provided below).

 

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This work by The University of Victoria Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise indicated when material has been used from other sources.