User:AlyssaML/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: Environmental impact of reservoirs
 * In the U.S. the age of building large reservoirs and damns is over. Now the U.S. is struggling to maintain damns and restore ecosystems affected by damns.

Lead evaluation
The Lead introduces the topic, however the first sentence seems to be opinionated and is not well written. The Lead does not include the major sections discussed in the in the article. However, it discusses how the article came about and it includes relative topics related to the article. To improve the Lead more details about the article should be included. Lastly the topic title should be renamed to Environmental impacts of dams and reservoirs, since both similar to each other.

Content evaluation
The article was last updated in February of 2020, the content currently in the article seems up to date, however is missing key topics related to the topic and current research efforts. Key topics that are missing is the risk that aging reservoirs pose and efforts to combat the environmental impacts of reservoirs. Also, the topic title is on reservoirs, yet the author uses dams and reservoirs interchangeably, which its why the title should be changed to "Environmental impacts of dams and reservoirs"

Tone and balance evaluation
Some parts of the article are not neutral for example the current version of the article states " Many dams are built for irrigation and although there is an existing dry ecosystem downstream, it is deliberately destroyed in favor of irrigated farming". First, there is no citation at the end of the sentence to show that the dams are deliberately built to destroy ecosystems and secondly, there is no evidence showing that most damns are for irrigation. An issue that is under represented is the impact of dams on fish migration. Overall the article includes important topics related to the subject.

Sources and references evaluation
There are some reliable sources used in the article such as ASCE and other research articles. However, the sources are not current. Additionally there are references that are unreliable or incomplete. For example one reference is cited as " New Scientist, January 2020", which degrades the overall reliability of the article. Most of the reference links work.

Organization evaluation
There are some grammatical errors and sentences that are not well written. A good example of a sentence that was not well written is the opening sentence to the article. Additionally, the current version of the article contains confusing wording and unclear sentences. The second major section titled "Impact Below Dam" should be renamed to "Downstream Impact" in order to match the first section title. There are some topics that need improvement in wording and needs more evidence to backup statements.

Images and media evaluation
The article needs more images that are well-captioned and related to the topic. Currently, there are only four pictures for the entire article. Some of the images are missing citations, which dose not adhere with Wikipedia's copy right regulations. A good picture that the article should include is a picture of the Three-Gorges Dam, which is mention in the article frequently.

Talk page evaluation
The article is part of the WikiProject Environment and is within the scope of WikiProject Energy. Some conversations going on behind the scene is how Dams impact the earth's rotation and discussions between the difference of dams and reservoirs. In class, we have mentioned an example how dams affect fluxes.

Overall evaluation
The current version of the article is rated as Start-Class under the WikiProject Environment. The article overall needs to be thoroughly checked for grammer and sentence structure. In addition, more academic sources should be used to increase the reliability of the article and more pictures to visually enhance understanding of the environmental impacts of dams. A suggestion of the environmental impacts on damns would to look environmental impact statements done by engineering firms in the U.S, where the topic is well understood and well researched.

Optional activity

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