Literature Reviews for Public Affairs and Policy: Grey Literature
Designed as a guide for students in the PAP PhD program.
Grey Literature
Grey Literature is material that is often missed by databases. This includes policy papers, NGO reports, and think tank materials.
Frequently the best way to find this material is identify relevant organizations first and then search their holdings. A good way to identify these groups and material is to read the peer-reviewed literature first to see what sources they identify.
Useful Databases:
- Policy CommonsProvides indexed access to government grey literature and reports from national and international governmental agencies.
- Think Tank Search (Harvard)"Think Tank Search searches the websites of institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. These sites are affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, and non-governmental organizations. Inclusion is based upon the relevancy of subject area to HKS coursework and scholarship, the availability of the think tank’s research in full-text on the website, and the think tank’s reputation and influence upon policy making. The list represents a mixture of partisan and non-partisan think tanks."
- Web of ScienceMaintains citation searching for high impact research journals in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and sciences and includes emerging sources citation indexing from 2005.
- IssueLabContains free access to case studies, evaluations, white papers, annual reports, issue briefs, and numerous other materials addressing the world's social problems that include aging, crime and safety, government reports, nonprofit and philanthropy, race and ethnicity, and transportation.
- PSU Library Guide to Grey LiteratureCompiled by Prof. Kimberly Pendell