User:Bayjohenderson/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Léopold Sédar Senghor

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article because it relates to our study of African politics and captures my general interest in West Africa; Senghor being the first president of independent Senegal. Additionally, it was listed as a C-Class article that needs some improvements and evaluation. My first impressions of the article is that it gives a fairly good, yet brief, summary of Senghor's life and long career that would allow for anyone to quickly understand the importance and relevance of Senghor.

Lead Section:
I found the lead section to be a relatively good and concise summary of Senghor's career. There are a couple lines that are either unnecessary or need greater explanation in order to connect with the greater trajectory and the major sections of the article. For example, the line describing Senghor's 1985 International Nonino Prize win is not discussed in the rest of the article at all despite a section on honors and poetry. Overall this seems out-of-place in the lead section. Despite, these odd, minor sentences, the tone and length of the lead section is clear and concise and contains the main pieces of information needed to understand what the article is about. This is true for the first sentence as well which captures much of Senghor as a person in a concise manner.

Content:
The content of the article is somewhat limited across the board but certain sections seem to get some more attention than others comparatively. For instance, Senghor's political career and presidency is covered less than the section on his early ears of life and his "Wandering Years" despite the significance of him being the first president of Senegal for 20 years of his life. Therefore, this section seems overlooked despite it's significance to international political history and the history of Africa, which tends to be underrepresented. Although, the content, for the most part, is relevant to the topic and touches on many aspects of Senghor's life which are limitedly discussed in the article. As referenced above, Senghor's 1985 International Nonino Prize win is not discussed in the body of the article despite being in the start of the article. I'd also argue that more should be written about his life as president and in the Académie Française as these were major portions of Senghor's life story and his work on either of these are neglected. To summarize, the content of the article is mostly relevant and informative of Senghor's life, but there is important pieces that are missing or need to be developed better.

Tone and Balance:
The tone of the article is mostly neutral but lacks several interpretations or opinions on the life of Senghor. Most information, apart from the last line of the section on Négritude which disputes a claim about the concept being anti-white in one sentence without entertaining other claims or citing as source, is presented without value terms made expressly by the author. Yet, certain lines claiming the significance of Senghor or his actions do not present several opinions or perspectives to the reader. Particularly for the "Legacy" section, few citations are provided from authors or intellectuals who could provide some insight into interpreting the legacy of Senghor and his effect on Senegalese and African politics.

Sources and References:
Many sections of the article completely lack references or citations for major claims while others are sparsely backed up by reputable sources. In the "Legacy" section, there are only two citations for one of the paragraphs while the other paragraph is devoid of citations despite stating several facts about Senghor. Additionally, certain citations do not seem to come from reputable sources like "Senegalaisement.com" or represent unsupported attributions to the article at large. Some sources are from several decades ago, but most are from the past couple of decades and are fairly recent. Further, the sources seem numerous and come from newspapers, books, journal articles, and government publications. While the number of sources are not small, homogenous, or outdated, there are clear gaps in the information that need to be addressed.

Organization and Writing Quality:
Although the article is well-written and grammatically sound, the information within certain sections seems unorganized or out of place. For the information already presented in the article, much of it is concise, clear, and understandable to the ordinary individual. It follows in a chronologically logical order starting with Senghor's early years to his legacy and ending with his honors and his poetry and "Negritude" ideology. The main issue with this method of organization is that it seems to side-line his poetry and pan-Africanism despite being part of his legacy. This would be improved by moving the Poetry and Negritude sections above Legacy to capture the whole of his career. As demonstrated earlier, the content and sources should be expanded. Therefore, much of the writing gives vague facts, claims, discussions about Senghor that should be expanded beyond.

Images and Media:
There are several images that are in the article but only about half serve a dedicated purpose. For example, there is one image of a commemorative Moldovan stamp featuring Senghor from 2006 in the section on his "personal life and death." While it might be somewhat relevant, it is not discussed in the section and seems like it is taking the place of a more useful photo. Apart from this, the photos appear to be in public domain or is legally allowed to be shared on Wikipedia. The captions are also clear and present, although links to the original source of certain photos are absent or incorrect.

Talk Page Discussion:
Most of the Talk Page discussions are about fixing minor informational mistakes, but it also includes a request for review because of several source and content concerns. Currently, the article is rated C-class and has a request for review. It's a part of a larger Wikiproject for Senegal and the larger Africa Wikiproject, where I originally located it. Clearly, this article differs from our class discussions of the topic because we tend to focus on the political relevance of these major figures. As such, I have consistently referenced the need to add more information on the political relevance of Senghor, improve the sources from which it is derived, and include more interpretations or views on his impact. This could make this Wikipedia page align better with academic discussion of Senghor's presidency and politics.

Overall Impressions:
Observing the whole article, it definitely needs review and some more development but is a good start to an important article. As stated before, Wikipedia claims that the article needs review. Expanding on the content that is already present, bringing more sources, and providing more perspectives on Senghor's life would greatly improve the article. There is a sizable amount of information on the article, giving a great start to the article (especially on his early life). Thus, I'd have to rate the article as partially or half-complete. More work should be done to fill holes and support major claims in the article, in spite of the work that has already been done. Overall, it is an interesting article, but, with the importance of Senghor's life and career in Africa, the article deserves more attention and review to ensure an expansive understanding of his legacy (good or bad).