User:Bassmaster1822/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: (link) Arkansas River.
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate. I picked this article because I really enjoy fishing tournaments on rivers and lakes. I have fished a couple tournaments on the Arkansas River so i thought it would be fun to evaluate an article about it.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic? The Lead does include a intro sentence that describes the topic.
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections? It describes most of them but doesn't seem to cover all of them.
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article? The mojority of the info in the lead is included in the article but not all of it. The part about "placer gold" was not mentioned in the rest of the article.
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed? The lead is almost too concise. There were quit a bit of information in the main sections of the article that were not included in the lead.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic? The article's information is all relevant to the topic of the a Arkansas River.
 * Is the content up-to-date? The information mainly comes from the last few years of research.
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong? No content is missing and everything in the article is about the Arkansas River.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral? The article is completely neutral.
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? All the claims in this article are focused on presenting facts not opinions.
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? None of the viewpoints are misused in this article.
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another? No this article merely presents information about the Arkansas River and leaves it up to the reader to develop a position on the topic.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information? Yes everything in the article is backed up.
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic? The sources are thorough and there are a good variety of different sources.
 * Are the sources current? The majority of the sources date back to the last few years.
 * Check a few links. Do they work? The links work and all appear to be significant to the info in the article.

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read? The article is very well written. In each section the information is easy to read.
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors? Not that I can find.
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic? The article is organized pretty well. The only part that could use some work is probably the lead.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic? Yes there are images in this article. The images help you see the Arkansas River as it flows through different states.
 * Are images well-captioned? Each image has specific info regarding where it was taken and a few tell what it is.
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations? Yes I believe they do. There is nothing in the talk page about the images not being used correctly.
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way? The images work well in the article. There are images that are incorporated into a section they relate to and then there are also a bunch of pictures at the end.

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? There are a few conversations about needing to change some facts in the article because of sources saying different things.
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? This article is a class B article, and it looks like it may of been in a WikiProject.
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? Wikipedia says that this article is a good article but has lost its good article criteria. We have not talked about this article in class.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status? This article is a level 5 vital article in Geography, but needs improvement to raise from a class B. It is written well, and just needs a little work.
 * What are the article's strengths? It provides tons of information about the Arkansas River's past, and the impact it has on the states it flows through.
 * How can the article be improved? It needs a little work in the lead. There is information mentioned in the lead that is not talked about in the rest of the paper. It also has a part in the main body that is not mentioned in the lead.
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed? The article is very well-developed, and it provides the majority of any info anyone would want to know about the Akansas River.

Overall evaluation
Although this article needs some work, it provides non biased information about the Arkansas river to the reader. The article has very clear sections, and is written in a professional manner


 * Link to feedback: