Public Administration and Public Policy: Grey Literature & Google

Think-tanks (and their accompanying publications) are often great sources of information. However, be sure to evaluate any potential bias and/or political leanings. 

Grey literature are resources "Produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers." (Source).

Since grey literature is not published in traditional places, it can often be hard to track down.  However, grey literature is an extremely important resource in many disciplines and can include needs assessments, evidence reviews, policy reports, and statistical analysis.

Grey literature does not undergo a peer-review process so all material should be appraised carefully.

(image: Kieran Lamb licensed byCC BY-NC-SA 2.0, modifications made)

Google Scholar locates what Google considers the scholarly literature (books, articles, conference presentations, pre-prints, government and technical reports, etc) in all subject areas.

Want full-text access via Google Scholar? 
Click on Settings icon on the Google Scholar home page. Select Library Links and then enter Saskatchewan in the box. Tick the University of Saskatchewan box and Save.

Finding recent papers

Your search results are normally sorted by relevance, not by date. To find newer articles, try the following options in the left sidebar:

1. click "Since Year" to show only recently published papers, sorted by relevance;
2. click "Sort by date" to show just the new additions, sorted by date;
3. click the envelope icon to have new results periodically delivered by email.

Source: Google Scholar Search Tips

Tips for Effective Searching