Wikipedia:United States Education Program/Courses/JHU MolBio Ogg 2012/Section 83/Group 83E

Group 83E
This is the Wikipedia page for 410.602 Molecular Biology, 2012, group 83E. This group will be working on the Homeotic selector gene article.

Use the talk page here to collaborate as a group, when learning to use and navigate Wikipedia, assessing articles, or for any other topic.

Use this page (not the talk page) for article assessments (optional, see Unit 5); rationale for selecting an article (Unit 6); progress reports (Units 9 and 12); and the final report (Unit 14). Please create a new section here for each of those assignments.

Unit 6 Article Selection Rationale
We have chosen Homeotic selector gene for our Wikipedia topic.

MCB WikiProject rates Homeotic selector gene a Stub on the quality scale, and Low on the importance scale. Very little information is provided on the Homeotic selector genes topic, what is provided is a brief description, a few references, and an empty talk page; leaving plenty of information that can be added to the page. It is interesting to note that Wikipedia rates this topic on a scale of Low for importance because Homeotic selector genes are used in developing different traits as well as mutations, which are subjects that are commonly discussed on the undergraduate and graduate level in Genetics courses.

The last edits made on the topic were in 2011. After completing an initial search on the topic: various resources are available that can aid in vastly improving the page. Such resources as research articles, various creditable websites, and our textbook will we fundamental in improving the Homeotic selector gene page.

The Homeotic selector gene page needs a considerable amount of information added such as content, diagrams, images, references, and layout.

Homeotic selector genes are a class of regulatory genes which are responsible for diversification of body segments in Drosophila development. Two examples of these genes include Antp, Antennapedia, and Ubx, Ultrabithorax. The Antp gene is responsible the mesothorax, the middle segment of the thorax which produces a pair of legs which are distinct from the forelegs and hindlegs. The Ubx gene codes the protein which develops the third thoracic segment, called the metathorax. Drosophila are used as a model system which expand the understanding of human genetics. The drosophila genome is easily manipulated, isolated and identified, which makes way for novel discoveries. The complement of these homeotic selector genes are known as Hox genes in Humans, which were first discovered in 1984 by William McGinnis. Studying mutations in these genes in drosophila lead to the understanding that Hox gene mutations can lead to deformed limbs. We choose to expands the topic of Homeotic selector genes are Wikipedia due to the plethora of information available both in our textbook and in various publications. There is enough knowledge on this topic which has yet to be consolidated in one webpage, such as Wikipedia. We will be able to make a significant contribution to the Wikipedia community through our research of homeotic selector genes. Skhan58 (talk) 02:18, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Unit 9 Progress Report
Progress made so far on improving the article:

A draft of our topic has been written which covers all major points and definitions. Copious amounts of information has been gathered from a variety of sources. Based on the information gathered thus far we feel that we will contribute a great deal to the article. From this point we will have to proofread the draft and cross check references. We have to make sure that the information we are providing is a compilation of all the research done so far. We will have to add images and make sure that we have the permission to use these images. We will revise and make edits to this rough draft to ensure that it is reader friendly, and accommodates the needs of Wikipedia users.

Interactions with other Wikipedia editors:

We are lacking this completely right now which is why we would like to transfer the information gathered to the article page as soon as possible.

To-do list for improvements that we plan to make in the remaining weeks:


 * 1) Proofread information gathered thus far; make additions and revisions as necessary.
 * 2) Make sure the writing is reader friendly, it has to be an easy read for anyone who is interested, not just graduate students, and researchers in the field. This information should be comprehensible to our peers as well as to students not studying Molecular Biology.
 * 3) Check permissions on images, if we cannot use the images we have to find new ones or create them.  These images will act as an aid to the better understanding of the subject matter.
 * 4) Since this is a topic currently being studied,  a “future direction” section may be added, or something that lets the reader know what research is currently going on and how homeotic selector gene research plays a role in future discoveries, and various areas of biotechnology, and research & development.
 * 5) We can also make revisions to the History sections, providing information on who began this research, how they studied the topic and what they found out. Having a history of the subject matter as well as current research being done adds to a more cohesive article.
 * 6) Optimal article layout.
 * 7) Add links to appropriate Wikipedia pages or references.
 * 8) Interact with editors.

Any other problems or concerns:

We do not foresee any problems or concerns as we still have plenty of time to fully complete all the requirements for the article prior to the December deadline.

Unit 12 Progress Report
Progress made since last progress report

We have transferred our rough draft from our talk page to the article page, and have started organizing the article page as well as adding images to further improve the article as a whole. Furthermore, we are gathering additional citations and information to incorporate into the article.

Interactions with other Wikipedia editors:

As peer reviewers for Group 83D, suggestions included Makselrod suggesting that images be incorporated into the article to serve as an aid in the better understanding of trans-acting siRNA. Furthermore, Makselrod also suggested that additional information be added such as the mechanics of trans-acting siRNA and why they are important, and lastly to include information if the understanding of trans-acting siRNA have lead to any new scientific discoveries.

Suggestions that were made to our article includes: Improving the overall layout of the article page, as well as improving clarity and fixing grammatical errors throughout the article. Also noted was the lack of sufficient number of citations. Adding additional citations to the article is a work in progress, as well as the layout of the page. All improvements in clarity and any grammatical errors will be checked and fixed as soon all information, images, and citations have been incorporated to the article page.

We included figures 2 and 3 to the article and modified the writeup to be more cohesive with a better flow. To-do list for improvements that we plan to make in the remaining weeks:


 * 1) Improvement in layout of article page, so that it is easy to follow and learn the subject matter.
 * Improving the "Description" section, as of right now it is more of an introduction
 * Adding more information to the history
 * 1) Due to the requirement that Wikipedia has for use of images on article pages.  We will have to find alternate photos either through the Wikipedia commons section, and PMC.  Finding alternatives means we may also have to alter some of the information that we have already added to the article page to make everything more cohesive.
 * 2) Add links to other wikipedia pages referenced throughout article
 * 3) Make Table of Contents titles shorter and easier to understand
 * 4) Add citations
 * 5) Lastly, fix any grammatical errors, as well as overall clarity throughout. Make the page easy to read and to navigate through.
 * 6) Incorporate all remaining figures in jpeg to the applicable article sections.
 * 7) Incorporate and align the article to create a complete flow.

Final progress report
Over the course of this semester, our group has been able to add a considerable amount of content to the Homeotic selector gene article. At the beginning of the semester our article was rated as a "Stub". We hope that through the many improvements that were made to the article, Homeotic selector gene article will meet Wikipedia's good-article-criteria. We brought together information from various sources, including textbooks, research articles and reviews. There was a plethora of information available on this topic but had not been compiled in one, easily accessible site until now.

Improvements made to the article:
 * 1) History and discovery of homeotic selector genes
 * 2) Types of homeotic genes
 * 3) Visual aids
 * 4) Mutations associated with homeotic selector genes
 * 5) Proteins, and homeotic genes involved within the Drosophila genome, as well as other organisms.
 * 6) Evolutionary conservation of homeotic selector genes
 * 7) Colinerarity of homeotic selector genes
 * 8) Additional references

Our peer-reviewers made great suggestions on ways to improve our article. Rexsmiley, mentioned websites that have copious amounts of information so that we could add additional references, and information to our article. Furthermore, Rexsmiley suggested ways on improving layout, and grammatical errors. Sytae, contributions included an easier way of citing our work, as well as mentioning the need for visual aids.

We believe that the content that we were able to gather, will greatly aid anyone that is currently learning, or has the desire to learn about homeotic selector genes.