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Biology: Recommended Resources

Databases for Finding Biology Journal Articles

Librarian shelving books

How to scan an academic articles A guide for students to read academic articles quickly and efficiently

Click the smiling Librarian to view how to quickly scan and evaluate an academic article.


Google Scholar Search

Sources for Background Information, Books, and News

Reference Databases are

  • A great place to start your research

  • Provide definitions, introductory information, facts, vocabulary/keywords, names

  • Preferred over Wikipedia by your instructors

  • Include citations for your bibliography!

  • Collection of encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks

Books

Sections of books can be very helpful in discovering more about a subject.

Search the BC3 Library Catalog for both. It also links to some of our ebooks.

Search for ebooks within the ebook databases. 

Print books are organized in the BC3 Library using Dewey Decimal call numbers. You will find Biology books numbered 500-599, Dewey's science section.  shelving system on the lower level. It is subdivided as follows.

500-509 Science

510-519 Mathematics

520-529 Astronomy

530 Physics

540 Chemistry & Allied Sciences

550 Earth sciences & geology

560 Fossils & prehistoric life

570 Biology

580 Plants

590 Animals (Zoology)

Use news magazines, trade magazines, newspapers, and current topics databases to find timely information on your topic.

Biology Videos

The Ecological Context of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic


March 24, 2020

Rediscovering Biology: Molecular to Global Perspectives

This is a video course comprised of 13 half-hour video programs, course guide, and website. 

Rediscovering Biology

The Secret Language of Trees
July 2019

Biology Websites, Podcasts, Websites

Featured Books

50 Biology Ideas You Really Need to Know

From mass extinction to immunity, and from sociobiology to swarm behaviour, 50 Biology Ideas You Really Need to Know will open you eyes to the fundamental biological processes that are essential to all life on earth, beginning with innovations unique to animals - such as the development of muscles and importance of circulation - and moving through to genetics, cells, tissues and, finally, the nature of groups of organisms.

Classification of Living Organisms

Describes the classification system scientists use to identify and name all living organisms, and explains how animals are categorized based on certain characteristics.

Encyclopedia of Adaptations in the Natural World

Welcome to the amazing world of adaptations, where species - including humans - develop fascinating new capabilities to ensure a competitive edge in their environment, or in some cases, survival itself. 

Bats

"In this illuminating introduction to the world of bats, Tony Hutson reveals the secrets of these extraordinary creatures.

How Life Works

Contents: The end of the machine: a new view of life -- Genes: what DNA really does -- RNA and transcription: reading the message -- Proteins: structure and unstructure -- Networks: the webs that make us -- Cells: decisions, decisions -- Tissues: how to build, when to stop -- Bodies: uncovering the pattern -- Agency: how life gets goals and purposes -- Troubleshooting: rethinking medicine -- Making and hacking: redesigning life.

Protecting Pollinators

We should thank a pollinator at every meal. These diminutive creatures fertilize a third of the crops we eat. Yet half of the 200,000 species of pollinators are threatened. Protecting Pollinators explores why the statistics have become so dire and how they can be reversed. 

Mapping Humanity

Northwestern University biology professor and research director Joshua Z. Rappoport provides a detailed look at how the explosion in genetic information as a result of cutting-edge technologies is changing our lives and our world"-- Provided by publisher.

Immune

Although everyone who has ever had a cold is familiar with the human immune system and its importance, few understand just how complex and intricate the immune system is. In Immune, Internet creator and storyteller Philipp Dettmer takes readers on a journey through the fortress of the human body and its defenses

Vagina Obscura

With modern tools and fresh perspectives, the authors look at the organs traditionally bound up in reproduction-the uterus, ovaries, vagina-and seeing within them a new biology of change and resilience. 

Cut-And-Paste Genetics

Bringing together historical and ethical insights on the revolutionary, Nobel prize winning CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, this accessible book examines the history of human attempts to understand and control our evolution, how the CRISPR/Cas9 technology works and what it could mean for the elimination of genetic diseases

The Book of Eels

The Book of Eels is both a meditation on the world's most elusive fish--the eel--and a reflection on the human condition.

Subject Liaison Librarian

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Jean Shumway
Contact:
724-287-8711 ext. 8296