School of Nursing Resources
APRN Resources
Check out our page on clinical resources for point-of-care resources and other useful tools for clinical rotations.
Gray Literature
What is gray literature?
Gray literature is any informational resource that exists outside of commercial publishing.
Gray literature may include sources such as ongoing clinical trials, governmental research, conference abstracts and proceedings, dissertations, theses, and more.
Where should I search for gray literature?
The answer depends on your research question and the type of evidence that could help answer it.
Google Scholar and our pre-filtered Google search limiting results to .gov, .edu, & .org sites are good places to start.
The NIH (National Institutes of Health) guide to gray literature provides links to many other suggested sources for gray literature.
Searching for Evidence
Where to search?
First consider what type of information could answer your question.
If you're looking for background information on a topic, consider some of these sources, including Virgo, our library's catalog.
If you need peer-reviewed journal articles on a specific topic, choose databases with appropriate coverage for your topic.
Basic Principles of Database Searching
- MIT's Guide to SearchingThis written guide covers the basics of Boolean operators and other search syntax.
- Searching School Video TutorialsCarrie Price's series of 3-4 minute videos offers a great introduction to the principles of database searching from a health sciences librarian.
Database-Specific Tutorials