User talk:Timochui/sandbox

Assignment 1 - Critiquing Article: Heterotroph

Throughout the article, the author utilizes an impartial tone of speech and avoids any usage of persuasion or personal opinions; close paraphrasing and plagiarism are also completely absent.

The wiki page is in a clear-cut structure with headings above each new section, but several paragraphs appear to be out of place; for instance, the fourth paragraph expands on detritivores, a specific type of heterotrophs, but the author does not introduce this idea under the “Type” subsection. Under the “Ecology” subsection, the author should expand on heterotrophs’ ecological role, specifically mentioning how heterotrophs are responsible for the decomposition and mineralization of organic materials back to their inorganic forms, and supply examples (i.e. deamination is the conversion of organic nitrogen to ammonium). Furthermore, the author should state that some heterotrophs can only use a limited range of organic compound as energy source – versatile versus specialized – under the “Type” subsection.

This article demonstrates both notability and verifiability required by Wikipedia. The hyperlinks are active and correct, and are also aptly placed throughout the page. In addition, the number of sources and references is adequate and reliable (Merriam-Webster dictionary, textbooks, and peer-reviewed articles). However, the author did not cite sufficiently; for instance, the second and third paragraphs compare chemoheterotroph, photoheterotroph, and lithotroph, but it is uncertain where the information was obtained from.

The talk page shows that other Wikipedia users have contributed to this article and gave constructive criticisms and suggestions. It also shows that the author has resolved any misleading or inaccurate information Timochui (talk) 01:46, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

Assignment 2 - Choosing an article: Nitrospira

I chose to evaluate “Nitrospira” wiki article because Nitrospira is an ubiquitous bacterium that plays a crucial role in the nitrogen cycle through nitrification ; they are responsible for performing nitrite oxidation in the second step of nitrification. This article is rated “stub” (poorly-developed) on the quality scale mainly because there was not enough coverage done by the author. Readers are only given a shallow description of the discoveries and scientific classification of the species. Furthermore, the gram stain results and morphology are briefly summed up under the same paragraph. Due to its difficulty to be cultivated and preserved in a lab, scientists may have decided to use other nitrifying bacteria to study the processes of nitrification, hence the lack of research material for the wiki article.

Since this article was written in 2006, the amount of information on this organism is limited, but the bacteria have gained notability over the years. Upon further exploration of the topic, UBC Summon was able to locate over 3500 journal articles related to this type of bacteria. Of those 3500 articles, 3000 journal articles are published after 2006, suggesting active research and increased notability in this area. Some articles focused on genes and proteins in Nitrospira responsible for nitrification, while others investigated the ecological role this bacterium plays in the ecosystem.

The article is completely devoid of many fundamental aspects an wiki article should contain; for instance, it does not elucidate to Nitrospira’s morphology, habitation, growth and biochemical characteristics, or genomic composition. In addition, most of the existing materials are outdated, including Nitrospira species and references. To improve this article, I plan to utilize a combination of primary and peer-reviewed research articles to update and expand on the bacteria’s general characteristics (morphology, biochemistry, genome) using Nitrospira marina as the model organism. A new subheading, “Ecology,” will also be introduced to elaborate on its ecological significance on the nitrogen cycle, specifically on the interactions between Nitrospira and other ammonia-oxidizing microbes. Ultimately, pictures and diagrams from and will be inserted to help readers better understand the bacterium.

Sara Rimanic's Peer Review
The added content provides a neutral view and is informative. It contributes to the article as a whole and improves upon the original article by adding novel information on the topic. The added sections were placed well within the original article and were appropriately titled and formatted. The sources used are reliable, unbiased, and come from scientific journals. The information drawn from these sources is well cited within the edited article and properly cited and formatted in the references section. There are numerous sources used (and thus, numerous scientific sources available about the topic) for the added information which implies that the information is notable and worthy of being included on Wikipedia. It is confusing that the morphology section is only about one species of Nitrospira. If the article was about that specific species it would make sense, but since the article is of a genus the morphology section should cover more than one species within that genus for completeness. As a reader I don’t know if that specific species is representative of the genus as a whole or if it has features that are unique and not broadly applicable to the genus. If these morphological features are characteristic of most species it would be sufficient to state that at the beginning of this section.

The closing sentence in the Metabolism section could be clearer if written as two sentences. As is, the structure is unusual and the sentence is quite long. I would suggest changing it to:
 * “Urease encoded within their genome can break urea down to CO2 and ammonia. The CO2 can be assimilated by anabolism while the ammonia and organic by-products released by Nitrospira allow ammonium oxidizers[6] and other microbes to co-exist in the same microenvironment[1].”

There are some minor grammatical errors that interfere with the flow of the sentences. Some sentences could also be rewritten to be more concise.


 * “Nitrospira are capable of aerobic hydrogen oxidation[12] and nitrite oxidation[6] to obtain electrons; however, high concentrations of nitrite have been shown to inhibit their growth[1]“


 * “New studies also show that Nitrospira can use urea as a source of nutrients.”

2001:569:79A6:5500:6030:58D2:A0ED:9FB0 (talk) 05:00, 9 November 2017 (UTC)