User:Erikareneej1998/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article

• Endocrine System: (link)
• I have chosen to evaluate this article as it is considered an important topic; however, has a C-rank. This article could be a source of relevant, important information to many individuals seeking information on the endocrine system and associated disorders.

Lead

The endocrine system is a chemical messenger system comprising feedback loops of the hormones released by internal glands of an organism directly into the circulatory system, regulating distant target organs. In humans, the major endocrine glands are the thyroid gland and the adrenal glands. In vertebrates, the hypothalamus is the neural control center for all endocrine systems. The study of the endocrine system and its disorders is known as endocrinology. Endocrinology is a branch of internal medicine.

• The introductory sentence gives a general overview of the topic being discussed. I do believe this opening paragraph is vague, and some of the information is not relevant and could be expanded upon. The thyroid gland and adrenal gland, as correctly stated, are major endocrine glands; however, there are many others. This should be referenced in this opening paragraph. Additionally, the shift in the opening paragraph from humans to vertebrates as a whole is confusing; could this be included as a subsection later on if deemed relevant? The organization of this section could be improved by focusing on one (i.e. humans) or the other (i.e. all vertebrates).
• No. There are many other subsections within the article not eluded too. The largest subsection included in the article is "Disease". There is no indication that the author intended to cover endocrine diseases and their relevance based on the lead section.
• The article does cover what is discussed in this "lead" paragraph. The coverage is minimal.
• The lead is lacking detail and some of the included information was not expanded upon, or it is not relevant to the focus of the paper. "Endocrinology is a branch of internal medicine." is vague and does not fit in the section with previous information.
• The lead section should be more encompassing of the following subsections of the article: signaling pathways, diseases, other animals.

Lead evaluation

Content

Diseases of the endocrine system are common, including conditions such as diabetes mellitus, thyroid disease, and obesity. Endocrine disease is characterized by misregulated hormone release (a productive pituitary adenoma), inappropriate response to signaling (hypothyroidism), lack of a gland (diabetes mellitus type 1, diminished erythropoiesis in chronic kidney failure), or structural enlargement in a critical site such as the thyroid (toxic multinodular goitre). Hypofunction of endocrine glands can occur as a result of loss of reserve, hyposecretion, agenesis, atrophy, or active destruction. Hyperfunction can occur as a result of hypersecretion, loss of suppression, hyperplastic or neoplastic change, or hyperstimulation.

Endocrinopathies are classified as primary, secondary, or tertiary. Primary endocrine disease inhibits the action of downstream glands. Secondary endocrine disease is indicative of a problem with the pituitary gland. Tertiary endocrine disease is associated with dysfunction of the hypothalamus and its releasing hormones.

As the thyroid, and hormones have been implicated in signaling distant tissues to proliferate, for example, the estrogen receptor has been shown to be involved in certain breast cancers. Endocrine, paracrine, and autocrine signaling have all been implicated in proliferation, one of the required steps of oncogenesis.

Other common diseases that result from endocrine dysfunction include Addison's disease, Cushing's disease and Graves' disease. Cushing's disease and Addison's disease are pathologies involving the dysfunction of the adrenal gland. Dysfunction in the adrenal gland could be due to primary or secondary factors and can result in hypercortisolism or hypocortisolism . Cushing's disease is characterized by the hypersecretion of the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) due to a pituitary adenoma that ultimately causes endogenous hypercortisolism by stimulating the adrenal glands. Some clinical signs of Cushing's disease include obesity, moon face, and hirsutism. Addison's disease is an endocrine disease that results from hypocortisolism caused by adrenal gland insufficiency. Adrenal insufficiency is significant because it is correlated with decreased ability to maintain blood pressure and blood sugar, a defect that can prove to be fatal.

Graves' disease involves the hyperactivity of the thyroid gland which produces the T3 and T4 hormones. Graves' disease effects range from excess sweating, fatigue, heat intolerance and high blood pressure to swelling of the eyes that causes redness, puffiness and in rare cases reduced or double vision.

• This content is very relevant to the topic of the endocrine system as there are many manifestations to disease related to this system. This was not discussed in the lead section which would be an important indicator.
• The content is up-to-date in the context of current understanding on the etiologies of disease mentioned.
• I believe there is a lot of content missing. This section primarily focuses on thyroid disorders. Although a major component of endocrine disease, it is not all encompassing. Organization could be improved if the author wished to focus on subsections. For example, a discussion and explanation of hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism could be included with associated diseases and etiology mentioned. Additionally, due to the mention of "major endocrine systems" earlier in the article, adding an example of disease for each would be appropriate. No mention of T1D in reference to insulin is included in the section. No discussion of sex hormones or associated disease is included. There is a lot of missing information in this section that would be relevant to the discussion of endocrine disorders. Although it would be impossible to include every endocrine disorder known, it would be relevant to include one manifestation of disease for each "major endocrine system" that was included in the previous section.
• This article includes no mention in equity gaps. It is known that endocrine disorders are more likely to effect women than men; this would be relevant information to include in the article under the "Disease" subsection.

The included content is poor. There is no analysis of text by the author for edit because in most sections, there are none. Most sections are characterized by links to other sites that explain much of the content being referred to. The author could have included ready-to-read information in these sections. The content of the article needs work in terms of further explanation of valuable content and summaries to the link provided for additional information. The content section is bare. Some information is included in the author's own words, nut this could be a source of significant improvement for the article to receive a better Wikipedia rating, specifically because of it's importance.

Content evaluation

Tone and Balance

• The author provided an unbiased approach to the article.

Sources and References

Guiding questions

• The author of the article did include secondary sources, however, some of the articles used for reference are linked back to primary research articles (inappropriate for Wikipedia).
• The sources are thorough. They provide a significant amount of information about endocrinology, the etiology of disease, and cellular mechanics involved. From looking at the articles, however, they were not utilized in their greatest capacity for the article posted on Wikipedia. It seems a lot of relevant information in these sources was overlooked and overgeneralized.
• Most of the articles / sources are at least 10+ years old. This could lead to discrepancies of new literature on the topic. Most recent sources should be included for these pages so they are more up-to-date.
• It does seem that the articles are written by a diverse background of authors.
• Some of the links work, however, many include ISBN or DOI numbers that do not directly link to the sources used for the article.

Sources and references evaluation

Organization

Guiding questions

• The writing of the article needs improvement; it is a mix of good writing and writing that needs work. For example, I think the author did a good job of explaining hormones and how they work within the body. In other cases, however, there are descriptions (i.e. cells types, major endocrine systems, and disease) that need reorganization and better description. If I were to read this article without a background in science and anatomy, I do not think I could read this article without having to do a significant amount of additional research to understand the topics discussed.
• This article does contain grammatical errors.
• The article is broken down into important sections; there could be additional subsections added (discussing the “major endocrine systems”, diseases) and reorganized for better flow on topics. The content within the sections is not great. Further explanation and additional sections added would vastly improve this article.

Organization evaluation

Images and Media

Guiding questions

• There are included images of the endocrine system and how it differs among men and women. The images are not provided in content within the article, however. Additionally, there is an image about endocrine disorders across the world and their prevalence. This is not discussed in the article at all, and it is not relevant to the content that is included within the article.
• The images are well-captioned in terms of indicating the information within the images.
• I do not believe that these images follow Wikipedia’s Copyright rules. The links in the image are those already included in the original author’s image. No external links are provided to the images.
• The images are laid out in a visually appealing way; some do not seem relevant, however, and their role is not exactly clear based on provided information in the text.

Images and media evaluation

Checking the talk page

Guiding questions

• Some of the comments on the Talk Page are referencing increased descriptions on different topics rather than just supplying a link with no content, and a suggested expansion on the disease section. Some previous edits have been in terms of contextual sentences within the subsections provided.
• This article is considered a C-Class article. It does not appear that it is apart of any Wikiprojects.
• It seems that we have talked about it similar, however, this article is far less informative and in-depth. It provides the “bare-minimum” of information and does not go into depth very much.

Talk page evaluation

Overall impressions

Guiding questions

• The overall status is that of moderate strength. I do feel that the sections included make sense, they are relevant and important to the topic, and would be important in understanding endocrinology. The sections, however, are not are contextual advanced as they could / should be. More information would be important, such as further description on topics and relevant images.
• The article is strong in that it provides a good overall description of “endocrinology”. The author identified important subsections that are relevant to endocrinology. The “major endocrine systems” were all identified and important cellular subtypes were included as well. The backbone of the article is strong and is well-developed.
• The article can be improved by adding more information and relevant images. An image showing autocrine function or hormone effect on a cell would be beneficial. The contextual information is lacking. The only section with actual written information is the “disease” section. It seems that there was not a lot of effort in terms of developing this article as it is seriously lacking information. The ideas are not entirely well-rounded. The sections could be very important to the topic as a whole if there is more information provided with a description of its relevance to the topic of Endocrinology.
• The article overall seems both poorly developed and underdeveloped (for the reasons stated above).