User talk:Peterdownunder/simplifying

I recommend you look at enzyme, to get an idea of what an enzyme does with its structure. I had the advantage of reading a Nobel prize-winner's autobiography when I did that page.
Hormones are sometimes proteins, but not usually. Overwhelmingly, proteins are either structural elements in cells or they are enzymes.
Our page on proteins is very poor, and needs revision. However, the right place to tell people about proteins is that page. This page is about the four-level structure. There is a possibility that the central message will be less clear if it is swamped by more general statements. A measure of Protein structure's simplification can be got by reading the original English wiki page. If you find that easier, then I really am in trouble!
Incidentally, one has to be careful about using the word 'structure' in two different senses, one referring to protein structure, the other as a general language term.
I am inclined to lose the para on biophysics. It is better to create another page about how protein structure is analysed, but that would certainly be incomprehensible. Some things actually are more difficult than rocket science...
I don't think we should pretend that we know why scientists do things, or what they will use the information for in future. That is standard journalese, but actually it's blather. It's different if one has an actual quote from a Nobel prize-winner. Then it is (in wiki terms) reliable information!

Macdonald-ross (talk) 13:25, 18 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Well, as a result of this discussion I have revised several pages about proteins. The page on Protein now does some of the things you did on this page. I have made changes on the Protein structure page along the lines of making it a bit more readable. Macdonald-ross (talk)

I saw you had been busy. This exercise has raised some questions about what needs to be in an article. I prefer to not have to wade through a sea of blue links to get a basic understanding, so as you can see I in the protein structure example I included more general background on proteins. I can then use links to get details. I would also like to see the importance - so what does protein structure do? That is why I would give an example eg cytoskeleton to show different structures have different products. Again a brief description of biophysics shows how structure is discovered, the details can be explored through links. There is also a "why" question - why bother to to do it and where can it lead. Accept point about "blather" so here is a reliable source saying it could lead to new drug development.[1]

In a way it probably shows that articles need a general introduction. Increasing details can be included further into the article.

My current though about the protein structure article is that it did not really come to grips with the four levels, especially in the beginning. Plus I did not understand them either!

I suppose my biggest concern is that we need to get all our articles into simple English. I think we need to meet the Flesch criteria or else we will continue to get the criticism that we are not achieving our purpose. Others are going to use the Flesch scores if we don't. The protein exercise has been interesting to see what challenges come up with highly technical articles and simple English. I think we can do it, but it is not going to be easy.--Peterdownunder (talk) 11:53, 20 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]