User:Aluquette/sandbox

The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
1.) Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and should not be used for any other purpose, such as advertising or making persuasive arguments.

2.) Articles on Wikipedia should be neutral and present multiple views of a subject in an unbiased manner.

3.) Wikipedia is freely accessed and used by anyone. Editors do not own their contributions, which can be changed by other editors at any time.

4.) Respect and cooperate with other Wikipedia editors. Wikipedia is a group effort and most users are working toward a common goal.

5.) Wikipedia does not have fixed rules and they evolve as needed. They function more as guidelines.

Summary of characteristics of target article
An article that is rated either B or GA should be well written and free of plagiarism. The information presented in the article should be easily verifiable. Proper references must be listed and in-line citations are used. The article should cover the important aspects of the topic and provide a broad range of information while staying focused and relevant. The article should be written from a neutral point of view. It should also remain stable over time without frequent major changes or edit wars. The article should also use images or figures when relevant to support the information presented.

Citation Practice
Gene silencing is a method used in Molecular Biology to study the function of genes. Specific methods for silencing genes vary among organisms. One common method used with mammalian cells is RNA interference (RNAi). This technique can be done with both cell culture and whole organisms, and it utilizes short hairpin RNAs. Another gene silencing method that is frequently used with plants is called virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS). VIGS uses viral vectors to suppress the expression of specific genes in plants.