Biology Subject Guide

Reference Materials:

Beacham's Guide to Endangered Species of North America: REF QH 77 .N56 B43
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: REF QL 3 .G67813
Encyclopedia of Bioethics: REF QH 332 .E52
Encyclopedia of the Biosphere: REF QH 343.4 .B5613
Encyclopedia of Evolution: REF QH 360.2 .E54
Macmillan Health Encyclopedia: REF RA 776 .M174
Oxford Dictionary of Ecology: REF QH 540.4 .C66
Science: a New York Time Survey: REF Q 171 .S3374
USNPS Great Smoky Mountains Management Reports (Biodiversity, Biospheres, Conservation and Ecology): REF QH 104.5
Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia: REF Q 121 .V 3 V 1
World Book Encyclopedia of Science: REF Q 121 .W65

Circulating Materials:

All circulating biology materials are located on the second floor of the library under the following call number ranges. Please check the online catalog for specific titles and call numbers.

QH 301-705.5 General Biology
QH 359-425 Evolution
QH 426-470 Genetics
QH 471-489 Reproduction
QH 501-531 Life
QH 540-549.5 Ecology
QH 573-671 Cytology
QH 705-705.5 Economic Biology

E-Resources:

Additional reference, primary source documents and secondary sources are available through our E-Research Tools

  • Anatomy TV Interactive 3D models of the human body
  • Encyclopedia of Global Warming Information covering the fundamental science and sociopolitical issues, including the debates and controversies, surrounding climate change.
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library A general reference source for a number of subjects including biomes, the environment, genetics, and the sciences



Articles, Reference Resources, and Videos available through NC LIVE:

Type your search terms in to the NCLIVE database search program or search for a particular magazine title in NCLIVE. Read the abstract (that’s the symbol at the end of the title line with a magnifying glass) to see if the article meets your needs, and then look for the “HTML Full Text” symbol at the bottom of the entry. If you need help searching NCLIVE, please ask a librarian.

Note: Due to the broad scope of general biology curriculum and the large number of available resources please consider the following as general guides to useful and popular NCLive material. Please contact a librarian if you need help locating further resources.

Databases and journals from NCLive:

Some ebook titles from the ABC-CLIO eBook Collection include:

  • All Things Darwin: An Encyclopedia of Darwin's World
  • Basics of Biology
  • Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the 19th Century
  • Just Genes?: The Ethics of Genetic Technologies
  • Life on Earth: An Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Ecology, and Evolution
  • The Gene: A Historical Perspective
  • Plant Species Biology Trends


Open Access Biology Journals:

Open access literature is defined as "digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions." Although freely accessible online, open access journals still undergo the peer-reviewed process as other scholarly journals.