Library: Life Sciences: Biosciences: Learning at Bath

Find recommended reading

Library Lists
Find your recommended reading for each unit in the Library Lists system. A unit reading list will give you easy access to e-books, and location and availability information for print books.

Access bioscience e-books

Biology : a global approach (12th ed.) by Neil A. Campbell, Lisa A. Urry (and others)
Publication Date: 2021
Setting the standard for excellence, accuracy, and innovation, 'Biology' delivers a trusted, accurate, current, and pedagogically innovative experience that guides students to a true understanding of biology.
Lehninger principles of biochemistry (8th ed.) by David L Nelson, Hoskins Aaron A. (Others)
Publication Date: 2021
Presents clearly, an organisation of complex concepts and connections, anchored in the principles of biochemistry.
Biochemistry (4th ed.) by Donald Voet and Judith G. Voet
Publication Date: 2010
Thoroughly revised for the 4th edition, the authors explain biochemical concepts and offer a unified presentation of life and its variation through evolution.
Biochemistry (10th ed.) by Jeremy M. Berg (and others)
Publication Date: 2023
'Biochemistry' reflects the revolution that has taken place in biomedical science, culminating in the human genome project. A key focus of this edition is the features of protein structure and function that have been revealed by gene sequencing.

Explore bioscience e-book collections

Find the Oxford Very Short Introduction Series on the library catalogue
Access a range of introductory books about medicine, health, science and maths published by Oxford University Press. Simply type "very short introduction" into the catalogue and from the next screen select "books" from the drop down menu in the search box.
Access to e-books via BibliU
Many e-textbooks bought by the Library are now available on the BibliU platform. You may need to use Chrome as there can be issues with other browsers.
How to download ebooks from BibliU
NCBI Bookshelf
Free online access to books and documents in life science and healthcare.
National Academies Press
The National Academies Press (NAP) publishes the reports of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

General and subject encyclopedias

You will find a selection of encyclopedias by searching in the library catalogue. Simply type the word "encyclopedia" and add the topic you are interested in e.g. immunology, plant, evolutionary biology.

eLS (Encyclopedia of Life Sciences) This link opens in a new window
Encyclopedia and full text articles in the life sciences

Creating biological drawings

ChemDraw
Create biological drawings, such as cell membranes and plasmid maps, using the ChemDraw software package.

Find videos, broadcasts, podcasts and images

Visible Body This link opens in a new window
Interactive animated "3-D" models and videos covering anatomy and physiology. You need to REGISTER for access by clicking the above the link and then click 'sign up'.
Henry Stewart Talks: Biomedical and Life Sciences collection This link opens in a new window
Over 2,600 commissioned seminar style talks by world leading experts covering the fundamentals in life sciences to therapeutic interventions. All copyright cleared.

Box of Broadcasts National (BoB)
Record and access broadcasts from more than 75 TV and radio channels. Includes an option to create clips. Users can embed content in presentations and Moodle (using BoB links/codes). Note that BOB only permits access from within the UK.
Broadcasts, videos, images and sound recordings
A cross-subject list of image, film and media resources

Past exam papers

Past exam papers
The Library provides you with access to Semester 1 and Semester 2 exam papers from the last 5 years, to help with revision. If you can't find the paper you are looking for it may be because:
• The unit code has changed
• It has been restricted by your Department
Please be aware that older papers might not be relevant to current course content.

Look up meanings of words and terms

Oxford Reference Online
Collection of reference works published by Oxford University Press covering the Arts, English Language Reference, Modern Languages, Politics and Social Sciences, and Science.
Glossary of biology terms from Wikipedia
A list of definitions of terms and concepts in the field of biology.

Information skills

Literature searching: an introduction
Library training events for researchers
Library training sessions provided through the Doctoral Skills programme. These cover a range of topics from literature searching to research data management.
University of Bath Library Systematic Reviews Guide
Advice on doing a systematic review: how to formulate a question, write a protocol, search literature, manage references, select studies, assess evidence and write-up.

Guide to using Covidence
The University subscribes to the tool, Covidence, which you can use to screen references, review the full text of documents, assess risks of bias, extract both study characteristics and outcomes, and export references and data. To find out how to access and use Covidence, refer to the above guide.

Develop your writing skills

Academic skills
Courses and one-to-one sessions for all students are provided by the Skills Centre.

Skills for Study This link opens in a new window
Description: Interactive tutorials with activities and tests covering: academic study skills, reading and note-making, critical thinking skills and referencing and understanding plagiarism.

Writing for Scientists
Library list of e-books with information on how to write in various science subjects, including journal articles and lab reports.

Computing, mathematics and statistics

Mathematics Resources Centre (MASH)
MASH helps all students at the University with mathematics and statistics problems.

O'Reilly Learning This link opens in a new window
O'Reilly Learning is a collection of technical books from a number of publishers including Pearson and O'Reilly Media. The titles include many computing topics and programming and software guides. It also has a range of business and management titles. In addition to books, O'Reilly includes a large range of online training courses, on-demand learning materials and video resources.

Research Software Learning Online
A guide to research software online courses from O'Reilly Learning. Courses cover Excel, Git and GitHub, LaTEX, MATLAB, Python, R and RS Studio, SAS, SPSS, Stata and SQL.

Improve your research software skills

Research Software Learning Online
A guide to research software online courses from O'Reilly Learning. Courses cover Excel, Git and GitHub, LaTEX, MATLAB, Python, R and RS Studio, SAS, SPSS, Stata and SQL.

LinkedIn Learning This link opens in a new window
An online skills platform offering an extensive library of over 23,000 high-quality video courses in business, technical, creative and personal development skills. Free access to all current staff/students is provided by the University of Bath Library. Trial access until 30 Nov 2025.