Wikipedia:USEP/Courses/JHU MolBio Ogg SP14/Group 82E

=Article selection rationale=

Dicer
This topic is of particular interest to rmiller587 and martinhyou because it is a topic that both are somewhat familiar with. When reviewing through all the articles, dicer seemed to be one of the more elaborate articles. However, the article itself has barely been worked on (as the talk page only includes a discussion about a picture), and it is difficult to read if not familiar with molecular biology. Our goal is to better the article so it is organized well, includes different research, and written to be easily comprehended.

We also have a variety of ideas that we believe can make this into a Good Article level class with the following.
 * 1. Elaborating more on the background of dicer. (location, function, synthesis, structure, etc).
 * 2. Implication of research performed on dicers. (discoveries and what could be affected)
 * 3. Understanding of the role of dicers in different organisms. (roundworm, drosophila, mice, etc).
 * 4. Bettering the organization of the whole article by including relevant pictures, elaborating on the history, and making it easy to read for the public viewer.

As a whole, we have found multiple sources that can be used related to the topic that range in different discussions/topics. References are one of the key points in writing a good Wikipedia article, and we focused our previous assignment in finding good sources for the topic of Dicer.

=Initial Article Assessments from martinhyou=

Assessment and Talk Page

 * The assessment is that it is a "Start" quality level page. An overall, somewhat detailed summary and history is provided for the page, so it is a greater than just a "Stub" quality page. However, nothing in depth is covered and not many references are used so it is not good enough to be a "C" level class. A couple sentences are given for different topics, which don't tie in well together. More aspects of the topic are desired, more content and organization is required, and more references can help raise its quality level. The talk page only talks about a picture that may not be completely accurate with its description, which has been edited in 2006.
 * References used talk about the function of dicer in different organisms such as Arabidopsis, in mice, and roundworm. More information about gene regulation can be explored too.

Assessment and Talk Page

 * The article is a "Stub" quality level page as it provides a very brief description of esterase. To begin making this article a good page, some extra, descriptive content is required along with more references. Then, organization of the information and content along with good transitioning and wording will help raise the quality level. The classification/list of enzymes is difficult to interpret for people unfamiliar with the subject. Making this topic something easier to understand will help also. There is nothing on the talk page as of now. No references have been used at all for this page.
 * A good background information reference is needed. Different esterases and their functions can be explored. How we understand esterase function through different modes can be explored as well.
 * All references are grouped together at the bottom for both martinhyou and rmiller587. References 1-6 are for martinhyou and 7-11 are for rmiller587

=Initial Article Assessments from Rmiller587=

Article Assessment

 * Inline citations are used for multiple sources, however there are not many sources listed (7 total).
 * The article uses correct punctuation and grammar.
 * Writing style is acceptable, though the main paragraph could be broken into smaller more specific sub paragraphs.
 * Article structure and aesthetics are fine.
 * Overall the article is off to a decent start but lacks a large amount of information that is readily available and could easily be incorporated into the article to allow for informative sub paragraphs.

Talk Page
Users are not currently discussing the article. The only discussion on the talk page refers to an error in the crystal structure picture which previously showed a dicer tetramer but has since been corrected to display a single molecule.

Resources
Dicer as an anti-viral

Dicer in immune cell development and function

Dicer in DNA damage and repair.

Article Assessment

 * There are no citations used, inline or otherwise. There is no reference list. A note at the top of the page suggests the article has been in this state since February 2007.
 * There are obvious typos and questionable sentence structure.
 * Writing style is disorganized.
 * Aesthetics are poor. The entire article is written under the main heading. There are no pictures or tables.
 * Overall this is a poorly written article with only basic, marginally helpful information.

Talk Page
There is no active discussion on the talk page. The articles questionable writing style has come up on the talk page where one user began correcting sentence structure. Another user has mentioned the plasmid page links to the transformation page which links to the exogenous DNA page but the information on the exogenous DNA page is insufficient to explain the link and there's no direct mention of plasmid DNA and it's implications as a form of exogenous DNA.

Resources
Nanoparticles as vectors for the introduction of exogenous DNA.

Yeast competence.

=Unit 8: Progress Report=

Addition

 * Created a protein box which includes a new structural picture, protein domain pictures, mRNA seq data, protein seq data, chromosomal location, and links to external databases like Entrez Gene, UniProt, OMIM, etc. for both mouse and human data.
 * Created a "functional domains" paragraph. Domains discussed correlate with the protein domains of the GNF protein box.
 * Created a paragraph discussing the role of dicer in cancer and tumorigenesis.
 * Created a paragraph explaining the functional role of dicer in RNAi/RISC
 * Created a paragraph about using dicer as a diagnostic/therapeutic tool
 * Added a picture of the role of dicer in miRNA formation

Removal

 * Moved some domain information out of the introduction and into the paragraph specifically for discussing the functional domains.
 * Removed external links located at the bottom of the page. These links are not contained in the protein box.
 * Removed paragraph in the introduction about dicer's role in cancer. The paragraph cited two news articles but did not provide any specific or useful information.

=Unit 10: Progress Report=

Addition

 * Added information about the initial discovery of dicer
 * Created viral pathogenesis paragraph to discuss dicers role in viral defense
 * Added "see also" links at the bottom of the page
 * Added wikilinks to new and previous paragraphs
 * Resized mechanistic picture per comments from multiple reviewers

Removal

 * Removed text from figure

=Unit 12: Progress Report=

Addition

 * Added paragraph about dicer activity in insects
 * Expanded macular degeneration paragraph and explained the diseases relationship to dicer.
 * Addressed concerns regarding grammatical errors, discovery timeline and paragraph length
 * Expanded see also links
 * Expanded Diagnostic paragraph

Removal

 * Removed original research in macular degeneration paragraph
 * Removed interactions section

=Unit 14: Progress Report=

Addition

 * Added section on dicer like proteins including information about arabidopsis and rice DCL.
 * Added paragraph on crystal structure discovery
 * Added information to body paragraphs that was unique to the lead
 * Added function of DUF domain
 * Restructured lead paragraph

Removal

 * Removed citations from lead
 * Removed gramatical/spelling errors

=References=