Three methods by which electron diffraction may be applied to problems in electron microscopy are discussed from a fundamental point of view, and experimental applications with biological specimens are demonstrated for each case. It is shown that wide-angle electron diffraction provides valuable information for evaluating specimen damage that can occur either during specimen preparation or while in the electron beam. Dark-field electron microscopy can be used both to enhance the image contrast and to provide highly restricted and therefore highly specific information about the object. Low-angle electron diffraction provides quantitative information about the object structure in the range from 20 A to approximately 1000 A. Lowangle electron diffraction also demonstrates the important role of Fourier contrast with biological specimens, which are usually characterized by structural features with dimensions of 20 A or larger.