User:AshlynkD/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Fort Hall

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose to evaluate this article because it is hard to evaluate something of which you know nothing about so I tried to find a topic that I knew something about. Being born and raised in Idaho Falls, near Fort Hall, I know a little about the location and regularly travel through the associated area. My first impression of it was that it was very informational and provided a lot of historical detail. However, I noticed that much of it was uncited and so hard to know whether the information was all completely accurate. It's important for work to be sourced and confirmed so that we can trust and rely on the information.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section


 * The lead section does include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic.
 * The lead touches on some of the topics of the article's sections, but does not include a brief description of the major sections.
 * The lead is not overly detailed, but does include a lot of information that is not presented elsewhere in the article.

Content


 * I'd say that all of the content included is relevant to the topic and the article.
 * I think more could be done to address equity, specifically concerning the marginalized groups of the Shoshone and Bannock tribes that occupy this area.
 * I also think content could be added to this article, perhaps more content to contextualize it and connect it to related articles about the Fort Hall area more broadly. I think there is more information that could be relevant to this article.

Tone and Balance


 * The article appears fairly neutral and diplomatic in tone. However, since I suspect that one individual composed much of the content of this article, I would say that viewpoint is possibly overrepresented as certain claims cannot be confirmed without citations and I must conclude they instead originate from opinion.

Sources and References


 * Most of the facts presented in the article are not backed up by reliable secondary sources of information, nor sources at all. For example, there is only one citation in all of the leading section. Many unsubstantiated claims are made that need to sourced and confirmed or edited like "Fort Hall is considered the most important trading post in the Snake River Valley."
 * Though I have not looked into it yet, I would guess the article does not reflect all of the current and available literature on the topic and that more thorough, extensive research needs to be done.
 * Several of the sources are not current and are, in fact, more than 10 years old.
 * They do not come from a diverse set of authors that is inclusive of historically marginalized groups, as far as I am aware.
 * One of the source links in a citation simply leads one to results from a Google Books search for "fort hall".

Organization and Writing Quality


 * The article is concise, clear, and easy to read and does not contain any grammatical or spelling errors as far as I see.
 * The article is not written in the most professional language at times. Besides the statement aforementioned above, the article also contains some vague and colloquial language. For example, in the section titled "History", the article reads "the historic Shoshone and Bannock peoples had been occupying the area for centuries." While the term "for centuries" is a minor thing that could be easily corrected, there are other areas with less professional speech as well. Describing a trail, the article reads "It had frequent obstacles, turns and switchbacks, making it difficult for wagon trains, mules and oxen, the common beasts of burden for the emigrants." At the end of the following paragraph, it states "The rendezvous were organized by the fur companies and were several-day affairs that were business, but festive in nature and oiled by alcohol." I think a higher standard of professionalism and writing quality could be attained here.
 * The article could be better organized as well, I think. In a section titled "Civil War 1863-1866", information that is not relevant to this section is included. The information, regarding the establishment of the reservation in addition to some supplementary material, could be better organized under a concluding section perhaps. Alternatively, in ideal circumstances, the whole article could be expanded and then better organized.

Images and Media


 * Images are included in the article, especially maps, that I do think enhance understanding a bit.
 * They are all captioned appropriately.
 * Some of the images could perhaps be laid out in a more visually-appealing way.

Talk Page


 * One user commented about the infoboxes on the page, calling them generic and asking about merging and expanding them.
 * Another user made two comments. First, they noted that this article gave information that was inconsistent with other pages covering two individuals mentioned on this page. The user noted unsourced assertions and recommended reviewing better sources to 'get the story straight'. They also noted how one source on the page was self-published and therefore not a reliable source.
 * The article is rated C-Class and part of several WikiProjects which are on : Military History, National Register of Historic Places, Oregon, and United States / Idaho.

Overall Impressions


 * I think the contributions made to this article have been a great starting point for the page and have probably provided some use to some visitors of the page. However, I think that in order to be more complete, credible and reliable, the page could be developed a lot more.
 * Like I said previously, it does provide a lot of informational and historic detail and is relatively neutral toned, though, crucial improvements could be made.
 * First and most importantly, all the facts and information needs to be cited with reliable sources and confirmed or otherwise revised or cut. During that search for sources, secondly, the article could be expanded with any additional relevant information added. Third, it could subsequently be better organized. Fourth, it could be edited for tone and professionalism, remembering that this is an encyclopedia. Lastly, perhaps better images could be found or at least better represented. These changes could greatly improve the quality of the page.