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Biology

The following resources have been compiled by the librarians with specific regard to the field of Biology.  For information on Pre-Medicine, please see that Research Guide.

Reference Books

• Encyclopedia of life sciences. 20 volumes. 2002. Ref 570.3 E56e

• Dictionary of theoretical concepts in biology. 1981. Ref 574.03 R62d

• Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia. 2008. 3 vols. Ref 503 V33
  Covering every area of science, this extensive resources offers 10,000 articles and 4000+ images.

• The Facts on File biology handbook. 2006. Ref 570 F11B
  Includes definitions of terms, brief biographies, and chronologies, along with key advances, lists of Nobel Prize winners, and diagrams and charts.


• Oxford dictionary of biochemistry and molecular biology. 2000. Ref 572.03 Ox25

• The Dictionary of cell biology. 1989. Ref 574.87 D56L

• Encyclopedia of microbiology. 2000. 4 volumes. Ref 579 En19L
  Covers 17 subject areas within microbiology, and includes a thematic table of contents, glossary of terms, and appendix. Also has numerous color illustrations and tables to enhance understanding.

• Grzimek's encyclopedia of ecology. 1976. Ref 574.5 G92e

• A Dictionary of ecology, evolution, and systematics. 1998. Ref 580 L73a

• The Cambridge dictionary of human biology and evolution. 2005. Ref 612.003
  Packed with 13000 descriptions of terms, specimens, sites and names, this invaluable research and study tool covers a broad range of subjects including human biology, physical anthropology, primatology, physiology, genetics, paleontology and zoology. The volume also includes over 1000 word roots, taxonomies and reference tables for extinct, recent and extant primates, and illustrations of landmarks, bones and muscles.


• Grzimek's encyclopedia of mammals. 5 volumes. 1989. Ref 599 G92G

• Grzimek's animal life encyclopedia. 2004. 17 volumes. Ref 591 G92 2004
  Covers all types of animals in all locations around the world. Includes high-quality photographs and illustrations.


• Encyclopedia of animal behavior. 2004. 3 volumes. Ref 591.5 E19B
  An excellent scholarly source on a variety of animal behaviors. Written by scholars and researchers, the essays include fun facts, as well as further scholarly reading lists. Black and white photos, along with a few pages of color illustrations in the center of each volume add to the appeal of this great resource.

• Latin names explained: A Guide to the scientific classification of reptiles, birds and mammals. 1996. Ref 596 G68L

• Encyclopedia of entomology. 2004. 3 volumes. Ref 595.7 En19C
  Provides a detailed, global overview of insects and their close relatives, including taxonomy, behavior, ecology, physiology, history, and management. Also covers physiology, genetics, ecology, behavior, insect relationships with people, medical entomology, and pest management. Essays written by over 350 distinguished entomologists from around the world. Includes over 1,000 illustrations.

• Encyclopedia of genetics. 2004. 2 volumes. Ref 576.5 En19
  Easily navigable, this collection on various topics within genetics offers term definitions, short bibliographies and see also references in each of the 233 signed essays. In addition to the subject, person, and category indexes, the second volume also offers a dictionary of important geneticists, a timeline of major developments in the field, and a list of relevant web sites.

Finding Books

• Online Catalog
  • Find books, as well as a variety of other materials in the TU Libraries.
  • Use the Advanced search option to specify material format, campus, language, and date range.
• WorldCat
  • Listed under Essential Tools.
  • Find books, among other things, to request via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

Finding Articles

• AccessScience
  Based on McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, 9th ed., includes 8,000 articles and over 2,000 science biographies.


• BioOne
  Provides full-text access to many important journals in the biological sciences, mostly those which are published by small societies and non-commercial publishers.


• Highwire Press
  Consists of the largest repository of free full-text life science articles in the world, with more than 750,000 free, full-text articles online.


• PubMed
  PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, provides access to over 11 million citations from MEDLINE and additional life science journals. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.


• Medline
  Includes the subject areas of medicine (clinical medicine, nursing, sports medicine, nutrition, and more). Provides indexing for 3,500 journals published internationally. Produced by the National Library of Medicine.


• Biology Digest
  Covers botany, environmental science, life science etc... Particularly strong in medicine and health. Abstracts written in non-technical style for students.


• Public Library of Science (PLoS)
  Peer-reviewed, free, online journals in the biomedical sciences that include original research as well as feature articles on relevant issues in the field. You have several choices several journals including PLoS Biology, Medicine, Computational Biology, Genetics, Pathogens, Neglected Tropical Diseases, and Clinical Trials.

Also note that if you require more articles for your topic than what can be found in the above databases, you could make an appointment with Dan Bowell to search two other excellent, very specialized sources that require the assistance of a librarian:

BIOSIS Previews - indexes the major English-language journals providing comprehensive worldwide coverage of research in the biological and biomedical sciences.
CAB Abstracts - indexes journals that cover the topic of applied life science.

Finding Journals

• List of Journals, Magazines and Newspapers
  Search by journal title keyword for online full-text journals, and to see what we have in print in the library.


• Click here for a Science Subject Search in the Periodical List to find out what journals (and how many) we have available both in print and online. Click on the blue links to enter the actual list of titles. The numbers in parentheses beside the subject indicate how many journal titles are included in that subject area. This search includes all sciences, but has a subdivision for Biology under the "B's" alphabetically. Also, for Pre-Med Bio majors, check out the Medicine subject search for journal titles.

Internet Resources

• Resources for Biology: Key Websites
  An excellent collection by the University of Connecticut Libraries of text and image web-based resources for anyone interested in biological research. Divided into sections including Dictionaries and hanbooks, General Biology, and then by subject.


• Entrez, the Life Sciences Search Engine
  "Established in 1988 as a national resource for molecular biology information, NCBI creates public databases, conducts research in computational biology, develops software tools for analyzing genome data, and disseminates biomedical information - all for the better understanding of molecular processes affecting human health and disease" (publisher description). Government resources in biology and the life sciences. Includes PubMed, ebooks, plus specialized databases on biological classification (taxonomy), genes, genomes, proteins, and more.


• Bioethics-Science Tracer Bullets
  This research help service from the Library of Congress provides a list of published resources on many aspects of Bioethics. Includes introductory texts on the issue, encyclopedias, conferences, government publications, journals, individual representative articles, and much more.


• Bookshelf
  A growing collection of open access, that is free full-text, biomedical books that can be searched directly by typing a concept into the search box and selecting "Go".


• arXiv
  Provides access to e-prints in a variety of Biology and Science subjects, including non-linear sciences and quantitative biology. From the web site: "arXiv is an e-print service in the fields of physics, mathematics, non-linear science, computer science, quantitative biology and statistics. The contents of arXiv conform to Cornell University academic standards. arXiv is owned, operated and funded by Cornell University, a private not-for-profit educational institution. arXiv is also partially funded by the National Science Foundation."


• ARKive.org
  Creating an audio-visual record of life on Earth, ARKive is collecting images, video and audio clips of life all over the world.


• Intute: Health & Life sciences (formerly known as BIOME)
  Section of the UK's excellent resource guide on the web. Covers a variety of subjects within the Biology sphere.


• Kimball's Biology Pages
  A sort of online biology textbook, this site makes use hyperlinks to explore in greater depths the usefulness of cross-referencing for quick and easy access to definitions, explanations, etc. It also includes a "comprehensive list" of other free, online biology books.


• PLANTS database (US gov)
  Provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories.


• Environmental Ethic
  A collection of links to web sites divided up by topic, including Online readings in Environmental Ethics and separate topics in Applied Environmental Ethics, such as Cloning, Resource allocation, Ecofeminism, and Air and Water Pollution, to name only a few.

Other Research Tools

• Credo Reference
  A conglomeration of specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias that allows you to search for definitions and encyclopedia articles, as well as develop ideas for expanding or refining a research strategy.

• Oxford Reference Premium Online  
  Oxford University Press produces a number of extremely useful reference materials, many of which they have made available here. You can search by keyword, but you can also choose particular subjects and from there, particular books within which to search. This willl provide you with all sorts of background and broad spectrum information on a particular topic.

• Biography Resource Center  
  Find background information about people, authors, famous personalities, and others. Search by first or last name. 

Citation Help

One of the least favorite aspects of research papers are the citations, documenting the sources where you gleaned your information. To make that a little easier, the Library offers a few resources.

• Scientific style and format: the CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers 2007.
  Ref 808.066 Sci27C


• Writing papers in the biological sciences by Vicky McMillan, Robert Arnold, and Deborah Huerta. 2006.

• The Citation Style Guide is a place where you can find call numbers for print Style Manuals and Handbooks, as well as online help from several different universities around the States. Check it out and see if it helps!

• RefWorks
  is a Citation Management program. Fully available online, and linked from the Library's home page, it allows you to keep it all ELECTRONIC. Download your citations from the various databases you're using into RefWorks. This program will create the Works Cited page for you with little effort. In a database, look for the option to EXPORT - that is where you'll find this gem of a program.

• Automatically Generated Citations can be found in our Library Catalog (to the right of the item on the Results page), as well as in most EBSCO databases (like Academic Search Premier, PsycINFO, Communications and Mass Media Complete, etc.). Most databases either provide an instant citation in a couple of different styles, or they allow Exporting to RefWorks (see above). Ask a Librarian for more help in managing your citations and creating your bibliographies and works cited pages faster.

• WorldCat.org
  "Cite this item" within individual item record lists the citation in APA, MLA, Chicago and more.

• The Writing Center is also a solid resource. Available in the Library, this is run by the English department. If you'd like face-to-face help individually with citing or any aspect of writing and editing your paper, the Writing Center is the place to go. For more information, see their page on the Portal, or you can contact them at writingctr@taylor.edu.

Product descriptions on this page are incorporated from book reviews and product descriptions from various sources.

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Created by Lana Wilson, Reference Librarian