Grey literature

Grey literature refers to resources that are not controlled by commercial publishers. Examples include technical or research reports from government agencies and Universities, working papers, statistics, dissertations & theses, and conference meeting proceedings. Sources of grey literature include: 

• Experts in the field
• Government websites
• University websites and institutional repositories
• Organisation/stakeholder websites
• Advanced searching of the internet

It is important as it assists you in ensuring you have a current, detailed understanding of the current research in your area. Because it does not go through the scholarly publication process it is often relatively quickly available. It also can include source data and statistics not available in any other format. 

There are specific tips on finding Conference proceedings and Theses/Dissertations (outlined below).

With other types of information there can be some trial and error, as not all information will be available in a digital format, or in a location that is accessible to you. There are a number of steps that can assist you, but there are no guarantees that you will find what you are looking for!

A good place to start is to think about the kind of information that you are interested in, why would it be produced, who is the most likely author/commissioning body, what kind of terminology would be used to describe it, and where is the most likely place that the information would have been hosted.

Check the Websites section of this guide for links to the home pages of some relevant bodies as a starting point (but you will need to go beyond these suggestions). Often there will be a search tool built into the page, or a Resources (or similar wording) section that you can view. 

If you are searching on the internet, we would suggest you start by using the Advanced Search in Google. These includes options allow you to focus your search. For example: 

• search in the 'terms appearing’ box which allows you to add a priority to your search terms,
• search only in specific domains e.g. site:.gov.au (for Australian Government hosted material) or site:.edu (for Educational Institutions, including Universities and Colleges),
• search for a particular file type, such as .xls if you are looking for data.

Search tips discussed in Get Started - Search Strategies - Keyword Searching around phrase searching and truncation will also be useful. Two examples of a search are below: 

• “renewable energ*” site:.gov.au  - will search for this phrase in Australian government websites
• “renewable energ*” filetype:pdf - will retrieve pdfs that include this phrase

Credibility and appropriateness

It is important to identify whether the information contained in grey literature is credible - "worthy of belief or confidence, trustworthy, reliable" (Oxford English Dictionary). One way to do this is to ask a number of questions:

• Consider the organisation(s) that may be creating/hosting this material. Do they have commercial, political or social interests and biases? If yes, could this influence the accuracy of the information that they are providing?
• Is the resource that you have found the most up to date information or data available? A work in progress? Can you tell (ie does it have a publication date?)
• Is it written at a level that is appropriate for your research?
• Is the material you have found confirmed by other sources or is it an outlier?
• Does the author have other published material on this topic/are they considered an expert? Do they affiliated with a reputable institutions?
• Is there a reference list that contains resources that you would expect to be cited?

Although there is no one comprehensive guide which can give you a definitive decision, these questions can help you to critically consider the credibility & appropriateness of the material that you find. The AACODS checklist below is another example. 

See Trove's guidance on finding theses for more help.

Masters and PhD theses

1. Select the Search tab
2. Click on the "In" drop down menu and select Thesis
3. Click on the "By" drop down menu to select the type of search - if you already know the title or author of a thesis, select this option
4. Type in your search terms and click Go

Honours theses

At the Bundoora and Bendigo campuses, honours theses are held in departmental offices, not in the Library. See the relevant administrative staff in each area for details.

At Albury-Wodonga, a small number of La Trobe honours theses are held in the library and can be found through Library Search.

Conference papers can be published in books, journal articles or abstracts, and many organisations make them available online.

You can refine your search by publication or document type when searching many library databases.

Use Google or Google Scholar to search for the name of the conference or organisation.