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Biology: Books & eBooks

Research guide for BIO 113 & 114

Why Use Books for Research?

  • Books provide in-depth coverage of a topic
  • Books often provide valuable background information, which can help you to understand new issues pertaining to the topic
  • Books can lead you to other relevant sources through their bibliographies

Search the Library Catalog 

A keyword search in the library catalog allows you to search for any term relevant to your research topic. Keyword searching simply matches your search terms to any word included in a book's catalog listing. Using common terms might retrieve satisfactory results, but most books are cataloged according to a controlled vocabulary to make indexing, searching, and finding books more consistent. One way to learn this vocabulary is to view the book record of a title you are interested in. Click on any book title in the catalog, then click on its description. Notice the subject headings that are assigned to the book -- this is the controlled vocabulary used to describe the book. These headings are hyperlinked to other books in our catalog that have been assigned the same subjects and may allow you to discover additional relevant titles.

 

 

Find Books on the Shelf in McKillop Library

Each book in the library has a specific "call number," where it is situated on a shelf for easy location in relation to other books on similar topics. We use the Library of Congress classification system, which is a set of letters and numbers assigned to each book on our shelves. The broad subject classification for the discipline of Science has been assigned the letter "Q" and all sub-disciplines fall underneath. A series of numbers follows the letter(s), to represent more specific subjects within that discipline:   

 

QH - Biology (general)
QK - Botany
QL - Zoology
QM - Human Anatomy
QP - Physiology
QR - Microbiology
It's important to note there are subjects related to science that may fall under a different classification. For example, books on environment or climate change will be located under the classification "G'" encompassing subjects classified under the discipline of Geography.
GE - Environmental Sciences
GF - Human Ecology
GC - Oceanography