Talk:Viral neuronal tracing

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): PeachOP.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 04:43, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Proposal to Delete "Virus life cycle" Section
This section, while informative, seems too general in the context of specifically viral tools to trace the brain. Much of this information can be found in the virus page. I propose to delete this section and redistribute the information specific to neurotropic viral infection to the "Methods" section under infection. If the more general life cycle of viruses is helpful in understanding the technique, I will leave it in (and begin adding citations). But, if I don't receive any feedback in the next 3 days, I will move forward with deleting the section.

PeachOP (talk) 16:28, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

Proposed Changes to Article Structure
Hi all, I believe that this article could be better organized, especially to reflect the typical structure I've observed in other scientific techniques (an example being optogenetics), where the article starts with a "History" section, then goes on to explain methodology. As such, I propose the following changes:

Current Structure: Background of neural tracing -> Virus life cycle -> Direction of transmission -> Methods -> Benefits and drawbacks -> current uses -> Viruses in use

Potential Reworked Structure: History -> Methods -> Direction of transmission -> Benefits and drawbacks -> Viruses in use

Changes/justification:
 * Change "Background..." to "History" to match other articles
 * Remove the "Virus life cycle" section (see previous post)
 * Move "Methods" to after History. I feel Methods should be one of the first sections because the article is about a technique
 * Remove "Current Uses" and move information there to lead section. No new information is presented except for the last sentence which summarizes findings. I propose to move that sentence to the lead section, and delete the remaining section (at least until more work is done documenting current uses)

Overall, I think these changes will lead to a better organized article which, after explaining the origins of viral tracing, follows sequentially through the action of the virus from how it is introduced to the brain, to how it spreads.

I am open to discussion of how best to organize this article. But, if I don't receive any objections in the next 3 days, I will move forward with the changes.

PeachOP (talk) 19:55, 10 April 2018 (UTC)