User:Alicia DiFrancia/sandbox

= Article Evaluation = The Wikipedia article that I read was about the United States Census Bureau. After reviewing this article and several others on this topic, I found that this was a reliable source of information. The article was always neutral and showed no sign of any bias. The article was straight forward and to the point and included references to acts, bills, and codes of the United States. It was also followed by a lengthy list of resources. I clicked on a couple just to check out the websites and found that they were mostly government and educational websites. Several were listed throughout the article in the citations too. However, I did not see any dates of when the data was collected.

In order to solve the year of publication problem I occurred, I went to the talk page. On there, I found a list of edits that go back as far as the year 2003. The most current review was in March of 2018. The critic suggested the author give a visual representation of how the census process works. Another critic pointed out a few grammatical errors considering factual and estimated results of the census counts. These errors are no longer present in the article however. The last edit was made in February of 2018. The author took the time to go back and revise their work so that it was updated and used the correct terms to describe the United States Census Bureau.

To make this article even stronger, I would personally suggest that the author should include something about the upcoming census in 2020. The census bureau deputy director, Thomas Brunell, has no government experience. He is a political science professor who possibly has a bias outlook which could affect the data. Also, the 2020 census will also be conducted online which has never been done before. Overall, I thought the article was organized well and that the edits allowed the piece to become even more accurate.

= Sources for Population Pyramids = I plan on contributing more examples. I think that the article is pretty short and more of just a definition. In order to give the viewers a deeper understanding of the population pyramid and how to even read one. The article mentions that the picture posted is of a country in stage 2 of the demographic transition model, but does not provide examples of any other stages and how their population pyramids would differ. They did not mention why women tend to live longer than men either(war). Also, the measures of central tendency were not mentioned along with the replacement level information, dependency ratios, or birth rates and how they all affect the population pyramid of a country. Stratification, Population momentum, zero population growth, and youth bulges are some key terms associated with the population pyramids, and only youth bulge is mentioned.  These are some thoughtful suggestions - I like where this is going - Prof Hammad 

US Census Bureau, Demographic Internet Staff. “International Programs, International Data Base.” Information Gateway - U.S. Census Bureau, 27 June 2011, www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/idb/informationGateway.php.

“Population Pyramids of the World from 1950 to 2100.” PopulationPyramid.net, www.populationpyramid.net/world/2016/.

DataFinder | U.S. and World Data by The Population Reference Bureau, www.prb.org/DataFinder.aspx.

“Databases.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/en/databases/index.html.

Boucher, Lauren. “What Are the Different Types of Population Pyramids?” Population Education, 11 Mar. 2018, populationeducation.org/what-are-different-types-population-pyramids.

Weeks, John Robert. Population: an Introduction to Concepts and Issues. Cengage Learning, 2016.

Zarulli, Virginia, et al. “Women Live Longer than Men Even during Severe Famines and Epidemics.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, 3 Jan. 2018, www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/01/03/1701535115.

= Copy Editing: Population Pyramid = On this article, Wikipedia flagged that there were not enough inline citations and that it needs more for verification:

A population pyramid, also called an "age pyramid", is a graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population (typically that of a country or region of the world), which forms the shape of a pyramid when the population is growing. This tool can be used to visualize the age composition of a particular population.

Population pyramid often contains continuous stacked-histogram bars, known as a horizontal bar diagram. The population size is depicted on the x-axis (horizontal), and age-groups on y-axis (vertical). Males are conventionally shown on the left and females on the right, and they may be measured by raw number or as a percentage of the total population.Population pyramids are often viewed as the most effective way to graphically depict the age and distribution of a population, partly because of the very clear image these pyramids represent.

The measures of central tendency, mean, median, and mode, should be considered when assessing a population pyramid since the data is not completely accurate. For example, the average age could be used to determine the type of population. A population with an average age of 15 would have a young population compared to a population that has an average age of 55, which would be considered to be an older population.

A great deal of information about the population, broken down by age and sex, can be read from a population pyramid. This can shed light on the extent of development and other aspects of the population. It can also depict the age-dependency ratio of a population. Populations with a big base, young population, or a big top, an older population, shows that there is a higher dependency ratio. The dependency ratio (LINK HERE)refers to how many people are dependent on the working class (ages 15-64). According to Weeks' Population: an Introduction to Concepts and Issues, population pyramids can be used to predict the future, known as a population forecast. Population momentum,(LINK HERE) when a population's birth rates continue to increase even after replacement level has been reached, can even be predicted if a population has a low mortality rate since the population will continue to grow. This then brings up the term doubling time, (LINK HERE) which is used to predict when the population will double in size. Lastly, a population pyramid can even give insight on the economic status of a country from the age stratification (LINK HERE)since the distribution of supplies are not evenly distributed through a population.

Population pyramid gives a clear picture of how a country transitions from high fertility to low fertility rate. The population pyramid here indicates stage 2 on the demographic transition. (The photo should be labeled Image 1. in bold with a description so that it can be referenced in text correctly.) The broad base of the pyramid means the majority of population lies between ages 0–14, which tells us that the fertility rate of the country is high and above population sub-replacement fertility level. There is a higher dependency ratio of younger population over the working population. Moreover, there is lesser older population due to shorter life expectancy which is around 60 years. (Reword: The older population is declining over time due to a shorter life expectancy of sixty years. However, there are still more females than males in these ranges since women have a longer life expectancy. As reported by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, women tend to live longer than men because women do not partake in risky behaviors. Also, Weeks' Population: an Introduction to Concepts and Issues, considered that the sex ratio gap for the older ages will shrink due to women's health declining due to the affects of smoking, as suggested by the United Nations and U.S. Census Bureau.

= Final Revisions: Population Pyramid = A population pyramid, also called an "age pyramid", is a graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population (typically that of a country or region of the world), which forms the shape of a pyramid when the population is growing.[1] This tool can be used to visualize the age composition of a particular population.[2]

Population pyramids often contain continuous stacked-histogram bars, making it a horizontal bar diagram. The population size is depicted on the x-axis (horizontal) while the age-groups are represented on the y-axis (vertical).[3]The size of the population can be either measured as a percentage of the total population or by raw number. Males are conventionally shown on the left and females are on the right. Population pyramids are often viewed as the most effective way to graphically depict the age and distribution of a population, partly because of the very clear image these pyramids represent.[4] A great deal of information about the population, broken down by age and sex, can be read from a population pyramid, which can shed light on the extent of development as well as other aspects of the population.

The measures of central tendency, mean, median, and mode, should be considered when assessing a population pyramid. since the data is not completely accurate. For example, the average age could be used to determine the type of population in a particular region. A population with an average age of 15 would have a young population compared to a population that has an average age of 55, which would be considered an older population. It is also important to consider these measures because the collected data is not completely accurate. The mid-year population is often used in calculations to account for the number of births and deaths that occur.

A population pyramid gives a clear picture of how a country transitions from high fertility to low fertility rate. The broad base of the pyramid means the majority of population lies between ages 0–14, which tells us that the fertility rate of the country is high and above population sub-replacement fertility level. The older population is declining over time due to a shorter life expectancy of sixty years. However, there are still more females than males in these ranges since women have a longer life expectancy. As reported by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, women tend to live longer than men because women do not partake in risky behaviors. Also, Weeks' Population: an Introduction to Concepts and Issues, considered that the sex ratio gap for the older ages will shrink due to women's health declining due to the effects of smoking, as suggested by the United Nations and U.S. Census Bureau. Moreover, it can also reveal the age-dependency ratio of a population. Populations with a big base, young population, or a big top, an older population, shows that there is a higher dependency ratio. The dependency ratio refers to how many people are dependent on the working class (ages 15-64). According to Weeks' Population: an Introduction to Concepts and Issues, population pyramids can be used to predict the future, known as a population forecast. Population momentum, when a population's birth rates continue to increase even after replacement level has been reached, can even be predicted if a population has a low mortality rate since the population will continue to grow. This then brings up the term doubling time, which is used to predict when the population will double in size. Lastly, a population pyramid can even give insight on the economic status of a country from the age stratification since the distribution of supplies are not evenly distributed through a population.

In the demographic transition model, the size and shape of population pyramids vary. In stage one of the demographic transition model, the pyramids have the most defined shape. They have the ideal big base and skinny top. In stage two, the pyramid looks similar, but starts to widen in the middle age groups. In stage three, the pyramids start to round out and look similar in shape to a tombstone. In stage four, there is a decrease in the younger age groups. This causes the base of the widened pyramid to narrow. Lastly, in stage five, the pyramid starts to take on the shape of a kite as the base continues to decrease. The shape of the population is dependent upon what the economy is like in the country. More developed countries can be found in stages three four and five while the least developed countries have a population represented by the pyramids in stages one and two.

 I think this is looking really good so far - Prof H