Answered By: Theresa Bell (she/her/hers)
Last Updated: Mar 06, 2023     Views: 50431

APA Style (7th ed.)

Grey literature is a category of resources that includes technical or research reports by government agencies, research institutes, organizations or companies, or associations. This type of literature includes (but is not limited to):

  • white papers
  • working papers
  • policy briefs
  • reports (Royal Roads University, 2015, What is grey literature?)

For more information, please visit Grey Literature: What Is It?

See below for four sample references to reports, and for more information on and examples of references to reports and grey literature, refer to pages 329-331 in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2020).

Author, A. A. (date). Title of report: Subtitle of report (Report No. xxx). Publisher Name. URL

  • If the report doesn't have a report number, leave that information out of the reference.
  • “If the publisher is the same as the author, which is often the case for group authors, . . . omit the publisher from the source element” (American Psychological Association [APA], 2020, p. 329).

Group Authored Report From an Agency Website

BC Hydro. (2013). Environmental impact statement executive summary.  Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/documents_staticpost/63919/85328/Executive_Summary.pdf

  • In-text citation: (BC Hydro, 2013, p. X)

Report Authored by Specific Individuals, Retrieved From a Government Department Website

Bush, E., & Lemmen, D. S. (Eds.). (2019). Canada’s changing climate report. Natural Resources Canada. https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/energy/Climate-change/pdf/CCCR_FULLREPORT-EN-FINAL.pdf

  • In-text citation: (Bush & Lemmen, 2019, p. X)

Report from a Private Organization, Available on Organization Website (e.g., annual report)

Canadian Solar. (2018). 2018 annual report. http://investors.canadiansolar.com/static-files/f5df404b-6f97-4027-8be3-db57c5bb35d6

  • In-text citation: (Canadian Solar, 2018, p. X)

United Nations Report

United Nations Development Programme. (2014). Human development report 2014: Sustaining human progress: Reducing vulnerabilities and building resilience. http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr14-report-en-1.pdf

  • First in-text citation: (United Nations Development Programme [UNDP], 2014, p. X)
  • Subsequent in-text citations: (UNDP, 2014, p. X)

References

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Royal Roads University. (2015). Grey literature: What is it? http://libguides.royalroads.ca/greylit

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