The Grey Lit Café
Grey (or gray) literature – 'grey lit' for short – includes such forms of communication as reports, white papers, dissertations, newsletters, slide decks, blogs, and podcasts. The Grey Lit Café explores the opportunities and benefits that grey lit provides for professionals and researchers. The podcast is directed by Anthony Haynes, produced by Dr Bart Hallmark, and published by Frontinus Ltd, a communications agency focused on engineering, infrastructure, sustainability, and research. Frontinus provides consultancy, editing, writing, and training services. If you're creating some grey literature and would like some support, contact us via our website, frontinus.org.uk.
Episodes
61 episodes since 2022
How effective are essays as an academic genre? The case of examinations
Anthony Haynes writes: On The Grey Lit Café we frequently focus on specific genres.* In this episode, we focus on the genre of essays. In particular, we discuss the use of essays in examinations. Engy Moussa (University of...
September 10, 2024
•
Season 7
•
Episode 60
•
44:44
Grey literature aggregation: Toby Green on Policy Commons
Policy Commons is on a mission to make grey literature - especially in the form of reports, more discoverable and accessible. Its content platform, Coherent Digital, hosts over 12 million documents - and the number is growing rapidly.Wh...
July 17, 2024
•
Season 6
•
Episode 59
•
29:00
Quality infrastructure and productivity: on protocols
Anthony Haynes is the author and publisher of an extensive series of Writing Protocols. In this episode, Engy Moussa interviews Anthony on how to produce protocols in order to get things done - and get them done well.In the process, the...
July 04, 2024
•
Season 6
•
Episode 58
•
13:27
The art of the newsletter: lessons from the reader's perspective
Anthony Haynes writes: In this, our latest genre-based, episode, Engy Moussa and I explore newsletters - primarily from the perspective of the reader. We range widely, exploring questions concerning quantity, spatial design, ...
June 20, 2024
•
Season 6
•
Episode 58
•
39:29
Key insights on research communications, with Rob Johnson
Anthony Haynes writes: It was a treat for this episode to be able to interview Rob Johnson, founder and Managing Director of Research Consulting Ltd. RC is a long-established organisation dedicated to improving the effectiveness and im...
May 23, 2024
•
Season 6
•
Episode 57
•
33:37
Before Spotify: the remarkable story of chautauquas
One question we explore on this podcast is that of antecedents: what came before podcasts? This episode tells the wonderfully rich history of chautauquas - an enterprising means of bringing entertainment and informal education to small-...
April 17, 2024
•
Season 6
•
Episode 56
•
10:09
How to define grey literature? The implication of letters
Anthony Haynes writes: This episode is the third of our series on the relationship between letters and grey literature. In the first, we made the case, using the case of the correspondence of communications theorist I.A. ...
March 28, 2024
•
Season 6
•
Episode 55
•
34:01
Where do podcasts come from? Letters as an antecedent
Anthony Haynes writes: Cultural forms and communicative genres tend not to emerge from a vacuum: they tend to emerge from existing forms. In the case of podcasts, obvious candidates include lectures, essays, sermons, and radio interv...
March 07, 2024
•
Season 6
•
Episode 54
•
34:06
But what about letters? Their scholarly use as grey literature
Grey literature covers a multitude of genres - for example, reports, white papers, preprints, and newsletters. But what about letters?Letters are not usually listed amongst grey literature forms, but this episode puts the case for why l...
February 22, 2024
•
Season 6
•
Episode 53
•
27:14
Overwriting: how and why to avoid it
Overwriting - producing a draft that exceeds your word (or page) limit - is an extremely common problem amongst writers in science, research, and professional areas. In this episode, Engy Moussa interviews Anthony Haynes. They examine w...
February 07, 2024
•
Season 6
•
Episode 52
•
21:26
The case of case studies, with Dr Farrah Arif
Anthony Haynes writes: On The Grey Lit Café we frequently explore grey literature by genre. Here we extend our coverage to the genre of case studies.To guide us, we interview
January 22, 2024
•
Season 6
•
Episode 51
•
25:48
Why we need to talk about silver literature
Anthony Haynes writes: I've long fought for a greater appreciation of forms of serious communication, other than just books and journal papers - forms such as reports, white papers, presentations, and blogs.But it's difficult b...
November 29, 2023
•
Season 5
•
Episode 50
•
6:04
How to give a presentation on engineering
Many engineers need to give presentations. They do so in a variety of contexts - for example, as part of a pitch, project report, conference, or job application. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a top-quality resource on how to do present...
November 16, 2023
•
Season 5
•
Episode 49
•
7:55
Grey literature workflows: the surprising role of pen & paper
Word processing has been around a long time now - so long, that we barely use the phrase anymore. So dominant in our workflows has it become that we act as though there's no need to distinguish it - as if there is simply no alternative.
November 02, 2023
•
Season 5
•
Episode 48
•
33:45
'Quality blogs', with Giovanni Salucci: innovation in scientific and research communication
You can wait a long time for ambitious innovations in the communication of science and research - and then two come along together.In our previous episode,
October 26, 2023
•
Season 5
•
Episode 47
•
18:41
Review: Putting stories to work, by Shawn Callahan
Anthony Haynes writes: Many scientists and researchers have come to realise that communicating their work effectively requires them to tell a story.But how?One resource is brilliant at answering that question: ...
October 17, 2023
•
Season 5
•
Episode 46
•
14:41
Scholarly podcasts, with Mack Hagood
Anthony Haynes writes: Nobody could accuse The Grey Lit Café of ignoring innovation in the communication of science and research! In fact, we're delighted to showcase innovative thinking, as in such episodes as <...
October 05, 2023
•
Season 5
•
Episode 45
•
26:37
White papers: what are they? what are they for? how do they add value?
Though opinions differ on the scope of grey literature, there's consensus that white papers represent a core genre of white papers.This episode examines the place of white papers in the grey literature landscape. In particular, it
September 26, 2023
•
Season 5
•
Episode 44
•
13:32
The games we play in science and research communication
Much of the content on The Grey Lit Café is pragmatic, concerned with how to improve the creation or management of grey literature ('greylit'). And some of it is conceptual. concerned with ho...
September 21, 2023
•
Season 5
•
Episode 43
•
6:45
The Art of Pitching, with Yuxia Zou
Having to pitch yourself and your work in order to win an opportunity is a standard component of professional and scientific life - and one that many people find challenging.In this episode,
September 18, 2023
•
Season 5
•
Episode 42
•
24:19
Another season over and what have we done?
Anthony Haynes writes: Our episode on the relationship between dissertations (or theses) and books marked the final episode of our fourth season.Here, in this additional episode, I reflect on the season. What types of content h...
July 31, 2023
•
Season 4
•
Episode 41
•
9:14
Dissertations and books: how are they related?
Anthony Haynes writes: You've written a dissertation or thesis. You'd like to write a book. How are the two forms related? How to transition from one to the other? In this episode, we seek to provide detailed, professional, ins...
July 19, 2023
•
Season 4
•
Episode 40
•
19:08
Understanding preprints with Jonny Coates
Anthony Haynes writes: What are preprints?Where do they fit into the ecology of science publishing? And how did the pandemic change their role?What do people believe about preprints? How accurate are those beliefs?<...
July 11, 2023
•
Season 4
•
Episode 39
•
34:42
How to write a research proposal and succeed
Anthony Haynes writes: The title is this episode forms the sub-title of a book by Gerard M. Crawley & Eoin O'Sullivan called The Grant Writer's Handbook.The episode on the latest in our series of reviews of grey li...
July 05, 2023
•
Season 4
•
Episode 38
•
14:56
Sustaining excellence in content production: interview with Lee Chapman of TREW Marketing
Anthony Haynes writes: On this podcast, we like to explore best practice in content development and content marketing. What does best practice look like? What mindset and processes are required to support its development - and, especia...
June 30, 2023
•
Season 4
•
Episode 37
•
17:46