User:Amorigno/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Ion channel

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I picked this article because I was generally looking at chemistry articles, and then landed on this specific article. It's important because it covers one of the fundamental transmembrane proteins used for cell homeostasis and processes. At first glance, it seems very complete, but I will have to look more specifically at the information presented to make a decision.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section:

The lead section contains a good summarizing sentence of the topic, is pretty concise and defines all the information presented later on. However, it does not summarize the upcoming sections of the articles.

Content:

The majority of the information on the topic is presented and is very up to date, with sources from less than 2 years ago. It does not appear to treat on underrepresented topics.

Tone and Balance:

The information in this article is presented very objectively and from a neutral position. There does not appear to be any biased or pointed opinions on this topic. The article is not persuasive in any way.

Sources and References:

Being that almost every sentenced is either linked to another Wikipedia article or has a source attached to it, I would say that the sourcing of this article is very complete. The sources are recent and consist of almost only academic and research papers, coming from all over the globe.

Organization and Writing Quality:

In general, the article follows a logical organization and flow (from function to classification, blockers and history, etc.) and is pretty well written; most concepts are explained and described using common language, but there are still instances of more advanced vocabulary that is unexplained. This could lead to confusion in readers that are unfamiliar with the topic.

Images and Media:

I would say this is the article's weakest aspect -- a severe lack of images or diagrams. With covering such a wide topic, associating images of the mechanisms of ion channels as well as general visually representations of the different types of channels would make the article a lot less dense. For the little amount of images present, they are properly sourced.

Talk Page Discussion:

The main topics of discussion on the "Talk" page relate to arguing about specific definitions surrounding the classification of ion channels themselves (do they count as enzymes for example) as well as classifying other transmembrane proteins as ion channels (e.g. G-gated channels). This article is part of 4 WikiProjects: Molecular Biology, Neuroscience, Biophysics and Physiology, and is rated as a B-class article.

Overall Impression:

Overall, this article offers general information on the topic in certain sections, while being almost too precise in others. It's organization is excellent and easy to follow, but fails in terms of images, as mentioned before. I think this article is slightly under-developed.