User:Pearcebarr/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article

This is where you will complete your article evaluation. Please use the template below to evaluate your selected article.

• Utopian studies
• Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.
  • The idea of a 'perfect society' or utopia has always been one that has been interesting to me, however I have not read or learned much about the topic besides reading fiction based on utopian societies. I was interested to see what information there was, besides just literature, but the article did not provide much of it.

Lead

Guiding questions:

• Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
  • Yes, for the most part. Some of the information could defined or explained better, though.
• Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
  • No it does not.
• Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
  • Yes, it references things like utopian politics, and intentional communities, and does not return to those ideas.
• Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?
  • It is concise, but too much so.

Content

Guiding questions:

• Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
  • Yes
• Is the content up-to-date?
  • It is as recent as 2010, which means it could be modernized.
• Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?
  • All content is relevant, but terms are given that are not explained or talk about in depth.

Tone and Balance

Guiding questions:

• Is the article neutral?
  • Yes
• Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
  • No
• Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
  • No
• Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?
  • No

Sources and References

Guiding questions:

• Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
  • No
• Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
  • The links provided are thorough and good, however there are no citations.
• Are the sources current?
  • N/A
• Check a few links. Do they work?
  • Yes

Organization

Guiding questions:

• Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
  • There is a section on significant works, but there is no stated criteria on how the significant works were picked
• Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
  • No
• Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?
  • Yes

Images and Media

Guiding questions:

• Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
  • No
• Are images well-captioned?
  • N/A
• Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
  • N/A
• Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?
  • N/A

Checking the talk page

Guiding questions:

• What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
  • There are ideas for using examples from pop culture to help get the point across, and questions concerning the applicability of utopian works.
• How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
  • It does not seem to be rated, or a part of any projects.
• How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
  • We have not talked directly about this issue in class, however our indirect conversation have been much more practical, whereas the article is theoretical or fictional.

Overall impressions

Guiding questions:

• What is the article's overall status?
  • It is not a good article
• What are the article's strengths?
  • The article provides many examples of works.
• How can the article be improved?
  • It could provide more definitions, and talk about how utopian works/studies is operating outside of just literature.
• How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?
  • The article is very underdeveloped. It has good information in it, but desperately needs more.

Optional activity

• Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback with four tildes ~~~~

• Link to feedback: Talk:Utopian studies