Biology Research Guide

Biology is the scientific study of plants, animals, and other life forms. Some branches of biology are biometry, ecology, evolution, genetics, molecular and cell biology, physiology, and paleontology. Cells, genetics, evolution, anatomy, physiology, plants, ecology, animal behavior, microbiology, zoology, and botany are just some of the general subjects Biology students may be researching. The library's Public Access Catalog contains 40 subject headings under Biology and 43 related terms. For clarification see biology dictionaries and classification guides.

Print Sources in the Library

Select "Research Tools Page" on the Library Web page. Search the Online Catalog for books by author, title and subject. Books on the same subject are usually found together on the shelves, giving you the opportunity to browse and look in the indexes for your topic. Reference books are found upstairs in the REF GE section.

• Dictionaries  
  Barnes and Noble Thesaurus Of Biology: The Principles Of Biology Explained And Illustrated
  The Cambridge Illustrated Dictionary Of Natural History
  Henderson's Dictionary Of Biological Terms
  International Dictionary Of Medicine And Biology : In Three Volumes
• Encyclopedias
  Classification of mammals above the species level
  Encyclopedia of bioethics
  Encyclopedia of genetics
  Classification guides
  Multimedia materials
  Videocassette materials
  Selecting "limit this search" at the top of the PAC screen will identify other audiovisual materials that can be found by call numbers in special sections located before the books.

Journal and Magazine Articles from Online Databases

To find journal and magazine articles, use the Library's online databases. These databases are research tools that cover thousands of printed publications. The Britannica Online and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary are places to start defining and limiting your topic.

• General Subject Databases

Expanded Academic ASAP:  Academic, news, popular, and trade publications covering all topics from 1980 - present..

Academic Search Premier:  Academic, news, popular, and trade publications covering all topics from 1975 - present.

SIRS Researcher:  Contains thousands of full-text articles exploring social, scientific, health, historic, business, economic, political and global issues.

• Medical and Health Science Databases

CINAHL:  This is a premier database for the nursing and allied health industry.  Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition—Provides nearly 480 scholarly full-text journals
focusing on many medical disciplines.  

Health Reference Center Academic:  Includes nursing and health journals, medical pamphlets, topical overviews, and reference books. Four years ago – present.

Health Source: Consumer Edition:  Provides full text for over 280 health periodicals,
nearly 1,200 health pamphlets, and 20 health reference books.

Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition:  Nearly 580 scholarly full-text, health and medical journals and 600+ abstracted and indexed journals. Some journals are covered 1966-present.

MEDLINE:  Created by the National Library of Medicine MEDLINE draws from over 9,075 medical and professional journals from 1966 to the present.

•  Current Newspaper Articles

News Databases:  The Library has online access to the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, LA Times, and other news outlets. 

Internet Sources

• Information and Tutorials

The Internet Public Library Reference Center
A collection of  biology and related sciences links is available at the Life Sciences page.

Tutorials and Study Resources The Biology Project
A combined project of Biology department faculty members and students at the University of Arizona, The Biology Project is a group of interactive tutorials to help learn the fundamentals of biology (cell, developmental, human, and molecular). Many tutorials are in both Spanish and English.

Developmental Biology
From the University of Guelph: Department of Zoology, an illustrated tutorial for college-level students of developmental biology. Includes information on biological processes such as gametogenesis, fertilization, cleavage, gastrulation, regeneration, and embryonic growth. Features a quiz, slideshows, diagrams of anatomical planes and cross sections, and a glossary.

Beginner's Guide to Molecular Biology
Nathalie Castells-Brooke maintains the Beginner's Guide to Molecular Biology, a part of the Molecular Biology Notebook Online. The guide offers information about cell biology, mitosis, meiosis, chromosomes, DNA structure, protein structure, amino acids, molecular engineering, and other areas of molecular biology. The guide is intended for use by students and teachers of molecular biology.

Biology Labs Online
Biology Labs On-Line offers a series of interactive, inquiry-based biology simulations and exercises designed for college biology students. First time users, click on a registration button.  Try Biology Labs On-Line FREE for one day. This one-time subscription will give you full access to all of the labs.

Kimball's Biology Pages
Comprehensive resource on biology. Provides illustrated information on cell biology, animal behavior, genetics, immunology, human physiology, and biochemistry. Also covers DNA, RNA, embryonic development, evolution and ecology.

Developmental Biology Tutorial
This tutorial is designed to supplement developmental biology lectures at the University of Calgary by introducing the dynamics of embryonic development.

The Animal Diversity Web
The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology's site with thousands of accounts of animal species.

• Web directories

Bio Netbook (Institut Pasteur)
A database of Web Pages for biological research. English or French language searches.

NCBI Taxonomy Homepage
The National Center for Biotechnology Information provides details on 80,000 species that can be searched by common name as well as scientific.

BioTech-Life Sciences Resources and Reference Tools
Research tool for biology and chemistry with annotated links to the best resources on the Internet.

United States National Biological Information Infrastructure
Photo gallery and Internet links for general information.