User:AbigailStern0702/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.


 * Name of article: Leon Trotsky
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.

Trotsky was a deeply interesting character in the Russian Revolution and played a significant role in the Bolshevik Party - and having done a research project focusing on him in previous years, I felt this article would be appropriate to evaluate.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?

Lead evaluation
The Lead section gives a concise narrative of Trotsky's life, from the beginnings of his prominence to his political involvements, and all the way until his exile and eventual death. It is not overly descriptive or complicated, and sets up key points about Trotsky to be expanded on in later sections.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
 * Is the content up-to-date?
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?
 * Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics?

Content evaluation
The content of the article clearly reflects all the aspects and stages of Trotsky's life, beginning with his childhood and early political activities and continuing into his relationship with the Bolshevik party later on. Appropriate content is included that reflects the greater context of the times, such as World War I and the Russian Revolution & its aftermath. The content appears to be up to date, and all of the information (and additional articles) represented throughout all pertain to Trotsky and are appropriate for the page.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral?
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?

Tone and balance evaluation
This article possesses a neutral tone and is not skewed negatively nor positively towards Trotsky, nor anyone mentioned in connection with him. The article also offers several different viewpoints on certain facts about Trotsky - namely, what he was originally named/referred to at birth. A persuasive tone is also not used to try and sway the reader into having a certain opinion about Trotsky or any aspect of his life or actions.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
 * Are the sources current?
 * Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation
The facts throughout this article appear to be quite credible - many coming from Trotsky's own autobiography, which adds an additional level of veracity - and cited with sources in which that information was found. A variety of time periods is reflected in the sources credited, which gives a wide range of perspectives, and it is reasonable to assume that because of this, many of the sources are quite thorough (as they've had years to expand on previous research). The links are numerous, and are functional as well.

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?

Organization evaluation
This article was quite easy to understand in terms of organizational structure, as it is formatted to display the information chronologically - which makes it easy for any reader to look through the events and notable times in Trotsky's life in order and view contextual information related to Trotsky. The sections are broken down simply, in the stages of Trotsky's life, and is not overly wordy or excessive in the language used. No grammatical errors nor spelling mistakes were found throughout the article.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
 * Are images well-captioned?
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?

Images and media evaluation
This article contains a myriad of images, which correspond to each stage of Trotsky's life and the events described in the article. They are all, for the most part, quality images, and are captioned helpfully and concisely so the reader is aware of what the image depicts. The images used are, as far as I can see, in adherence to Wikipedia's copyright rules, and are displayed usefully so that they correlate to the information being described in a certain section.

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Talk page evaluation
While there have not been many extremely recent discussions on the page, there were some from a few years past discussing whether the article should refer to Trotsky as a Russian, versus a Ukrainian or simply a Soviet. Additionally, there was some debate over whether the weapon used to assassinate Trotsky was a more common "ice pick" tool, or a more heavy, mountaineering-type "ice axe". The article is rated as a B-class article, and is a Level 4 vital article.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status?
 * What are the article's strengths?
 * How can the article be improved?
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?

Overall evaluation
The overall status of the article is what I'd consider to be strong - it's quite well-developed and thorough, with plenty of contextual information and specific details about certain events. It has recently been condensed to be a bit less lengthy in the lead section, which is reflected currently (as I read it quite easily and did not find it to be excessively verbose). This article presents a very detailed picture of the life of Trotsky and his social & political activities throughout. If any improvements could be made, I would possibly suggest just minor condensing of certain topics touched on (such as quite lengthy descriptive sections regarding things Trotsky was involved in - which is informative, but doesn't necessarily pertain directly to Trotsky?) but for the most part, I found the article to be well-developed and very effective.

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

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