LibGuides: Grey Literature: Types of Grey Literature

Grey Literature comes in many shapes and sizes, and from wide spectrum of sources. It can be incredibly overwhelming to try to figure out exactly what type of grey literature will be useful for your research, especially if you do not know the terminology for these types of literature. The below table and example will hopefully give you a general idea of what type of grey literature you are looking for.

Types of Grey Literature

Types of Grey Literature	Examples of Publications	Examples of Common Sources
Academic: Not all academic resources are scholarly and peer-reviewed! That means that lots of information academics put out is Grey Literature (This guide is an example of academic grey literature).	Theses Conference Papers Dissertations Research Reports Articles that have not been peer-reviewed yet (pre-prints) or will not be peer-review (White papers) Course materials Research Posters Surveys and Questionnaires used to collect data Bibliographies Lectures	Academic Websites and Blogs University Research Repositories Conference Proceedings
Primary Sources: Resources that reflect the views, memories or immediate responses to events primary sources.	News Articles Personal Journals Social Media Photos Speeches Interviews Legislation	Newspapers Archives Blogs
Non-Academic Research and Reports: These are documents that are created by non-academic organizations that attempt to research topics outside of academia. Think Tanks, Policy Institutes, Research Centers, and Governments fall into this category.	Policy Briefs Data sets Maps Reports on specific programs, areas or topics Statistics Fact sheets	Government Agency Publications Non-Profit Organizations
Health: These documents relate to the fields of health and medicine and are designed to be used by experts in the field.	Clinical Trials Practice Guidelines	Pharmaceutical Companies Health Professional Associations
Technical: Technical grey literature covers literature that conveys highly specialized information on the interworkings of different proceedures, inventions, technologies, enginneering advancements, scientific discoveries and more. These are different from non-academic research because the intended audience are fellow technical experts and are more STEM or scientific in nature.	Technical reports Trade magazines Scientific reports Maps Standards Patents Toolkits Guidelines	Associations, unions, and other organizations representing specific fields Government Agencies that set standards and regulations. Academic organizations focused on the specific field
Industry and Commercial: These items of grey literature are created to inform businesses, consumers, and industry professionals about products, markets, and industry trends.	Business documents Catalogues Guidelines Repair manuals Trade magazines	Individual Busienesses Chamber of Commerce and other busieness associations
Program or Public Information: These items are made to report or inform outside audiences of an organization's activities. This can be made by businesses, think tanks, government agencies, academic organizations and more. This is different from primary sources as these items are updates on indivdual organizations, not events or broader topic. They differ from technical or non-academic research reports as they are not research-based, and are made for general consumption.	Bulletins Newsletters Brochures/pamphlet Directories Posters and advertisments Press releases Annual reports Fact sheets Flyers	Individual organization's websites Government information like Public health flyers or National Park brochures