User:Aelgass/sandbox

Wikipedia Article Analysis
The Wikipedia article “James Burrill Angell” is an accurate, unbiased, and relatively thorough account of the life of James B. Angell, but it is not a complete representation of his legacy. Regarding its basic biographical content, the article successfully follows all three of Wikipedia’s core policies. The first of these is verifiability, specifically that all information should come from reliable, published sources.1 In the article, I found all the information to be accurate and backed by an array of reliable sources. The most notable of which is Angell’s own autobiography, The Reminiscences of James B. Angell. The majority of the basic information in the article is pulled from this source, including facts about Angell’s education, personal life, and various occupations which included roles as a professor, newspaper editor, diplomat, and college president. The specific dates of Angell’s birth and death are, for obvious reasons, not included in his autobiography, but are verifiable through obituaries in numerous newspaper clippings.2

Aside from the strictly factual information, there are only a few points in the Wikipedia article that seem questionable. Upon cross-referencing Angell’s autobiography, however, I found these too to be accurate. For instance, the article notes that Angell turned down the University of Michigan’s first job offer because “he felt that he owed it to his supporters in Vermont” where he was currently university president.3 This explanation, though seemingly an arbitrary addition by a Wikipedian, is actually explicitly expressed by Angell himself. He writes, “I found that the men who had rallied generously to the support of the college would be sorely disappointed if I left them then.”4

The other important Wikipedia policy is neutrality. In the Angell article, the editors are successful in maintaining a neutral, purely biographical point of view. They do not state their opinions of Angell; when opinions are expressed they are done so in the words of others. For example, the article states that “[Angell] is often cited by Michigan administrators for providing the vision of Michigan as a university that should provide ‘an uncommon education for the common man.’”5 The editor is careful to note that this is the opinion of the Michigan administrators and not simply his own. Overall the article is unbiased and reads with an academic, detached tone just as an encyclopedia should.

There is little dispute surrounding this article, as one might expect with the given subject matter. The associated “talk” page is currently empty which, according to Wikipedia, signifies that consensus has been reached.6 I would argue, though, that although the article has no errors or bias, it is not yet a complete representation of James B. Angell, especially in regards to his work as president of The University of Michigan. The article devotes only one paragraph to this topic, when in reality Angell served in this role for 38 of his 87 years of life. One of Angell’s especially noteworthy contributions was his role in opening the university up to women and making Michigan a model for coeducation.7 Angell takes great pride in this achievement in his autobiography, yet it is entirely neglected in the Wikipedia article. Thus the article is good but not perfect. It accurately and fairly summarizes the life of James B. Angell but it does not fully capture the man behind the name.