BIOL 313 - Principles of Ecology

What is grey literature? Grey literature is material that is produced outside of traditional publishing processes. In simple terms, things that are not books or journal articles. Examples of grey literature include reports from governments or non-governmental organizations, technical reports, theses and dissertations, newsletters, speeches, etc. These types of publications can be hard to find because they are diverse, there is no single place to search for them, and you may not even be aware of their existence.

To locate grey literature, you can go directly to the web sites of the City of Calgary, Government of Alberta, or Government of Canada, for example. You may also want to search the web sites of relevant non-governmental organizations and think tanks. 

Google is a great way to find reports and publications from non-governmental organizations, such as Greenpeace or the Pembina Institute. However, you may need to research the nature of the organization before using their report. It's always best to check with your instructor or TA if you're not certain of the source.

The library is a great source of historical scientific and technical reports from the City of Calgary and the Government of Alberta. These will appear in the library web site search results if we have them.