Architecture

Grey literature refers to any information source that is not commercially published. The definition of grey literature is evolving but it is generally defined as content that is produced and published by non-commercial private or public entities including pressure groups, charities and organisations. As these sources are dispersed and not collected by centralised publishing platforms, they are sometimes difficult to find and can be tiresome to search. 

What counts as grey literature?

• Internal reports, such as government white papers
• Meeting minutes and notes
• Conference abstracts, papers
• Theses and dissertations
• Pre-print or unpublished research
• Clinical trial data
• Patents and technical standards information, such as British Standards (BSO) or International Standards (ISO)

Why use grey literature?

• Often good quality information produced by experts in their field, e.g. white papers are commissioned by the government from a body of subject specialists
• Providing important insights into the 'reality' of research, e.g. clinical trial data that is not published because the study was not successful and therefore not commercially beneficial
• Reflects the expertise of individuals not associated with academia e.g. independent think tanks; charities representing oppressed groups or individuals; other industry experts (for example, in business or technology).

Grey Literature adds another layer to your research and provides a different perspective thereby making your research more interesting. However, it is important to evaluate grey literature sources carefully by considering the credentials of the entity that produced the information as there may be inherent biases associated with the production of this information.

Below are some useful sites for finding grey literature relating to Architecture topics. Some links will take you to databases which UCL Library Services subscribes to. These require that you authenticate with your UCL user ID and password. Be sure also to check all relevant subject guides for subject-specific sources of grey literature.

Professional organisations and research bodies can be a very useful source for grey literature such as policy, research publications, standards and guidance, data and more. Here is a selection of some organisations in Architecture: