User:Allaboutrocks/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Geothermal energy.

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
As an energy source, geothermal relates to my topic for my course: Geographies of Energy and Sustainability. Additionally, it is described as renewable energy. I am interested in investigating the shortcomings and environmental impacts of energy sources that are described as renewable. The term renewable often connotates sustainability, environmental health, and a preference over conventional energy sources, so investigating this article and other renewable energy articles alike may provide insight into content gaps that are due to this assumed superiority.

Lead section
The introductory sentence clearly and concisely defines the topic and is followed by a brief introductory paragraph that explains how geothermal energy is formed and used. Aside from an explanation of the linguistic roots of the word geothermal (which may be unnecessary or possibly should be moved to the history section immediately below the lead section), the rest of the lead section concisely focuses on almost all the major topics throughout the rest of the article. An addition to this section could include brief mentions of the sustainability and environmental impact of this energy source. Both are aspects of other major sections in the rest of the article but are not mentioned at all in the introduction.

Content

A lot of this content seems to be focused on energy production in the United States. Other countries like Iceland, New Zealand, and the Philippines are mentioned throughout the content, but a lot of the examples and information given are grounded in the United States. Using more diverse examples that illustrate this use in other countries may be beneficial for the article and give a more global perspective and understanding. Although the United States ranks second in direct use and first in installed geothermal electric capacity, other countries also rank high in these ratings, earning them the right to be proportionately mentioned throughout the article.

Additionally, many of the sources for the information in this article are from the early 2000s. While this is not necessarily out-of-date, I would not be surprised if there is updated, more current information for some of these topics (such as updated environmental impacts or events).

Tone and Balance

Overall, the tone throughout this article is neutral and does not aim to argue a specific point.

The "Development" section is quite underdeveloped in this article. It vaguely states "Geothermal projects have several stages of development", but does not go on to explain what these are. I think this section of the article is relevant to the overall topic and therefore should be expanded upon by briefly listing the different development stages, explaining what each is and the risks associated with each to help readers understand how geothermal energy is accessed and used.

Sources and References

All information is accurately cited from reliable publications or studies as well as reliable websites (such as Our World In Data). There is an even distribution of information for each of the sources (one doesn't completely dominate the conversation) that come from a wide variety of sources.

There seem to be a lot of topics in this article that relate to other pages (such as enhanced geothermal systems, geothermal heating, and geothermal power), and each is appropriately linked in the related section. These pages go further in-depth on the specific topics, and the sections in this article therefore remain focused more broadly on geothermal energy.

As I mentioned before, many of the sources are from the early 2000s, putting them on the edge of being unreliable or out-of-date. Some of the data from these sources that have come together to create the tables and graphs, along with the economics section, may need to be updated to more accurately illustrate usage, capacity, and effects.

Organization and Writing Quality

In the "Lead section" critique, the linguistic analysis of the word "geothermal" seems unnecessary in the introductory part of the article, especially considering that this is never followed up on, likely because it is a simple fact that does not need to be expanded upon. Therefore, it might be moved to a different part of the article, not necessarily in the lead section (possibly "History"?) Other than that, everything is well-organized, well-written, and grammatically correct.

Images and Media

There are many good graphs, maps, and tables that visualize the data discussed in the article. Each is well put together, well-placed within the article, and relevant to the surrounding information.

Images that visual this extraction process, or the different types of geothermal systems may be useful for the reader to understand what sorts of technology or machines are being used in this process.

Talk Page Discussions

WikiProjects this article is related to are Energy, Geology, Climate Change (high-importance), and physics (mid-importance). The main issues with this article that are discussed in the Talk Page are issues with out-of-date sources/bibliography and therefore out-of-date information. One user argues that some information from this article that is very specific should be moved to other, related articles like Geothermal power and Geothermal heating and also suggests updating "historical" information to bring that section into the current day (or at least into the early 2010s).

Overall Impressions

Generally, the organization and structure of this article are sound. There aren't any massive, gapping content gaps, but rather areas that could be updated with the most current data and information from newer sources and studies. Additionally, some sections could be filtered through to ensure that the topic of geothermal energy is kept broad - not too specific - while others, like the "Developments" section, could be expanded upon to clarify. What do "Developments" mean? What are some examples? What are the most recent developments and why are they important/relevant? How are these developments changing geothermal energy?