What is a White Paper?

Originally referring to government papers that were color coded by access level, a white paper is defined by Stanford Law School as "an authoritative report or guide that often addresses issues and how to solve them" (White Paper - Stanford Law School).

White papers fall under the broad category of grey (gray) literature. (See the Finding Gray Literature guide, Cornell University Library along with the guide created by California State University for examples of grey literature.)

  • Grey literature includes "multiple document types produced on all levels of government, academics, business, and organization in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing i.e. where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body" (GreyNet International).

Further Information:

Suggested resources

Additionally, explore the Country Information guide for other reputable organizations.

Think Tanks

"Think tanks are policy institutes that carry out detailed research and provide analysis of, and information on, a range of policy ideas and programmes."

Watts, D. (2010). Dictionary of American government and politics. Edinburgh University Press.

Additionally, explore the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania's annual rankings .