It can be helpful to copy and paste the text below into a sandbox, and apply all of the options directly to this text to see what it does.

Paragraph: This helps you set the style of the text. For example, a header, or plain paragraph text. You can also use it to offset block quotes.

A : Highlight your text, then click here to format it with bold, italics, etc. The "More" options allows you to underline, add code snippets, and change language keyboards.

Links: The chain button allows you to link your text. Highlight the word, and push the button. VisualEditor will automatically suggest related Wikipedia articles for that word or phrase. This is a great way to connect your article to more Wikipedia content. You only have to link important words once, usually during the first time they appear. If you want to link to pages outside of Wikipedia (for an "external links" section, for example) click on the "External link" tab.

Cite: The citation tool in VisualEditor helps format your citations. You can simply paste a DOI or URL, and the VisualEditor will try to sort out all of the fields you need. Be sure to review it, however, and apply missing fields manually (if you know them). You can also add books, journals, news, and websites manually. That opens up a quick guide for inputting your citations. Finally, you can click the "re-use" tab if you've already added a source and just want to cite it again.

Bullets: To add bullet points or a numbered list, click here.

Insert: This tab lets you add media, images, or tables.

Ω The final tab allows you to add special characters, such as those found in non-English words, scientific notation, and a handful of language extensions.

My editing Plan for Backbone Chain wiki page:

I plan to edit the introductory paragraph to discuss the different common backbones both in biochemistry and chemistry.

Let me know if you have any suggestions! Thanks!

Sources for citation:

General source: Voet, Donald, Judith G. Voet, and Charlotte W. Pratt. Fundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the Molecular Level. 5th ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2008. Print

Sources for Polypeptides:

-Noller HF. 2017 The parable of the caveman and the Ferrari: protein synthesis and the RNA world. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 372: 20160187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0187

-Tamura, K. & Alexander, R.W. CMLS, Cell. Mol. Life Sci. (2004) 61: 1317. doi:10.1007/s00018-004-3449-9

-Guzzo, A. V. (1965). The influence of amino acid sequence on protein structure. Biophys. J. 5, 809–822. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5884309

Sources for Nucleic Acids:

-"Definition: Phosphate Backbone." Nature.com. Macmillan Publishers, 2014. Web. http://www.nature.com/scitable/definition/phosphate-backbone-273

-Harvard Department of Microbiology. "Nucleotides and the Double Helix." Life Sciences Cyberbridge. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2017. http://cyberbridge.mcb.harvard.edu/dna_1.html

-Lodish H, Berk A, Zipursky SL, et al. Molecular Cell Biology. 4th edition. New York: W. H. Freeman; 2000. Section 4.1, Structure of Nucleic Acids. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21514/

Sources for Polysaccharides:

Bertozzi CR, Rabuka D. Structural Basis of Glycan Diversity. In: Varki A, Cummings RD, Esko JD, et al., editors. Essentials of Glycobiology. 2nd edition. Cold Spring Harbor (NY): Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; 2009. Chapter 2. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1955/

Rensselear Polytechnic Institute Department of Microbiology. "Glycogen Metabolism." N.p., n.d. Web. https://www.rpi.edu/dept/bcbp/molbiochem/MBWeb/mb1/part2/glycogen.htm

Here is a more detailed outline:

Introductory Paragraph

  • Introduction of the definition of “backbone” in chemistry (Polymer science) and biochemistry
  • Brief discussion of use and importance in polymer science w/ one picture (from chemdraw) example
  • Brief discussion of biological significance w/ one picture (from chemdraw or pymol) example

Character of the backbone

  • Split into a chemistry and biochemistry section
  • Leave the information currently discussing materials science, possibly add some more if time allows
  • Make a concise brief description of character for biochemical molecules (each for nucleic acids, proteins, and polysaccharides)
  • Discussion of structure relating to function in biological systems
  • Add lots of links to other pages with more detail

Common Biological backbones - this will be the meat of my edit (3 sub sections)

  • Nucleic acid backbone:
      • Description of biological importance (DNA and RNA + links)
      • Detailed description of character
      • How this structure relates to 3D structure and fxn
      • Description of formation in biological systems
      • History of discovery
      • Some nice images
  • Protein backbone:
    • Brief description of Biological importance of proteins
    • Detailed description of character
    • Brief description of fxnal relation to secondary, tertiary, quaternary structure (+ links)
    • Description of formation in biological systems (+ links to transcription and translation)
    • History of discovery
    • Some nice images
    • Saccharides
        • Description of biological importance and metabolism
        • Detailed description of character and formation/breakdown in biological systems
        • History of discovery
        • Some nice images

These will all include as many links as possible  to wikipedia pages with more detailed information.

Common Backbones in Polymer Chemistry/ Materials science:

This section may be beyond my scope of time and knowledge. I may be able to add a little bit of information and possibly some more links to other wikipedia pages. I could also use Chemdraw to draw a couple of images and make it look nicer/ make more sense to viewers with a limited knowledge of the subject