User talk:Bellre

Hi, I just wanted to introduce myself for the Wikipedia project.

Hello! Let's improve the plastic pollution page! CiKay (talk) 21:44, 13 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Bellre! Looking forward to working with you and CiKay on plastic pollution. Mbeez (talk) 22:34, 13 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Bellre! Welcome to Wikipedia! It appears that you are here to participate in a class project. If you haven't done so already, we encourage you to go through our training for students. Click here for the online training for students

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--Tryptofish (talk) 16:22, 3 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, Bellre, and

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I work with the Wiki Education Foundation, and help support students who are editing as part of a class assignment. If there's anything I can do to help with your assignment (or, for that matter, any other aspect of Wikipedia) please feel free to drop me a note. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:08, 4 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

When editing articles related about medical-related topics, please bear in mind is that the standards for citations for these is higher than the general standard for sources in Wikipedia articles. Focus more on review articles and less on the latest discoveries. Findings like these are very difficult for a non-expert to put in the proper context without synthesizing a whole body of research literature. While we encourage the use of secondary and tertiary sources in general, this is especially important in medical-related topics. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 18:08, 4 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Bellre, the work you and your group members did on Plastics Pollution looks great! Although I'm not sure how the original article was, it seems as though there is a good amount of information on the topic.

For the Introduction, watch word choice, generally. As minor as it seems, the word "adverse" or other forms of it are used multiple times in sequential sentences. Try changing things up with synonyms to keep the reader engaged with the topic. In addition, think about the flow of the sentences, specifically, the sentence that starts with "Exposure to many of the chemicals..." followed by the sentence, "Plastic pollutants are categorized...". The first sentence transitions nicely into the sentence about the harmful effects mentioned, but this train of thought is interrupted by the fact about categorization. Just something to think about.

Composition of Plastics, again, this probably seems very picky, but based on the heading, the information about POPs and the red tide seems slightly misplaced. The information in the section is all related and thought-out, so maybe the solution is to change the heading? Either this, or emphasize BPA as a component more, as well as others.

Plastic Debris: For Microdebris, would it be possible to elaborate on the 2004 Thompson study? It would be informative to read about how the microdebris ended up on the beach (organisms or other means) and the impact of this discovery. Each of the categories provided give the basic size information and potential harms, but, especially for meso- and macro-debris, examples of products would be helpful. It would also be good to provide citations for the sizing information. Think about linking to other articles for things such as Primary and Secondary Plastics as well as Scrubbers.

Effects on the Environment:

• For the effects on land, provide examples of microorganisms (with hyperlinks) and how they speed up the biodegradation of plastics. This category is generally vague, which may simply be a lack of information available. There is a good use of hyperlinks in this section, though!
• Oceans: lead with the fact about 165 million tons of plastic pollution in oceans; it's attention-grabbing and more general than the impact of nurdles. "Plastics in oceans typically degrade within a year, but not entirely, and in the process toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A and polystyrene can leach into waters from some plastics" is a long sentence. Think about breaking it into 2.
• Entanglement: Either put the 2006 report in quotes, or italics, so it is more distinct that "Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans" is the title.
• Ingestion: Elaborate or clarify, "Parents can deliver " junk" food to their nestlings." This sentence seems out-of-place and there is such little mention of the seagulls, so thank about adding another couple of sentences. Be sure to include links to other pages; there is a lot of opportunity for that in this section, especially with the different species and locations.

In general, the article is very informative, but take a look at the flow within sections. There are many good thoughts, but some are interrupted by others, and then brought back into focus. There is a good initial use of hyperlinks, but especially in the Reduction Efforts section, there are many other possibilities that could lead to further exploration of related topics. It is clear that a lot of research has been done, so great job! Egilmore15 (talk) 23:47, 3 April 2015 (UTC)Egilmore15[reply]

Egilmore15, thank you for all your helpful suggestions. The only thing that I was unsure about was the part where you said, "think about linking to other articles for things such as Primary and Secondary Plastics." Unfortunately, those two topics do not have their own wikipedia articles, which is why we wrote short descriptions of what they were instead. If you have any more suggestions, please feel free to share. They help us make our article better. CiKay (talk) 01:34, 11 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]