Intro to Review Literature

Books

• Look for books owned by UGA in GIL-Find, our online catalog. You can search for subjects, so it's a good way to discover titles.
• Look for books owned by other libraries in WorldCat. WorldCat is best for confirming known items to request interlibrary loan.
• To discover books, you might want to try searching for book reviews in subject databases and Multisearch.
• UGA's Ebook titles should be included in the GIL-Find catalog.
• You can can also search for Ebooks directly from their vendor databases. Get more information from a LibGuide on Ebooks.

Grey Literature

• Consists of documents that are not formally published through typical scholarly channels.
• Sources include produced by government agencies, universities, corporations, research centers, associations and societies, and professional organizations.
• Get more information from a LibGuide on Grey Literature by Elizabeth White.

Deciding whether to search grey literature depends on your discipline, questions, and your research type.

• Scoping Reviews should include grey literature, unless there is a reason to omit it. If there is a reason to omit grey literature, note it in your protocol materials.
• Examples of how your research question and subject area may require grey lit:
  • Social Sciences
    • Does your question relate to public education or school age children? Many times relevant information is published in District, State or Federal level reports, not just peer reviewed journals.
    • Does your research question relate to policy? You may need to look at information from think tanks.