User:Bhumstanford/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
General Motors streetcar conspiracy

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
This article outlines the main topic of my research, the Streetcar Conspiracy. It does not focus on Los Angeles specifically, but rather describes the nationwide conspiracy.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section

The lead section does well to introduce the topic concisely in the first paragraph and any reader interested in an overview would receive it in the lead. However, I would consider the lead section overly detailed and information contained in the latter paragraphs may be better suited for subsections later in the article.

Content

All of the content in the article is somehow relevant to the topic and it provides a comprehensive explanation of the conspiracy. The content is up to date and no clear gaps are apparent.

Tone and Balance

The article appears neutral as it presents historical fact without clear attempts to persuade the reader. Several viewpoints are represented and there is even an entire section devoted to counterarguments.

Sources and References

The content in the article is thoroughly cited. Almost every sentence has one or more sources. The list of references is 86 sources long, the vast majority of which are either official documents or scholarly sources. A quick test on source links reveals that they are, indeed real sources. Various sentences still need citation, though, so there is clear room for improvement.

Organization and Writing Quality

The article is well broken down into sections that follow a clear chronological order with other factors and counterarguments coming at the end. The article is well written and spelling and grammar are consistent throughout.

Images and Media

There are a few images in the early sections of the article which are somewhat relevant but poorly captioned. There is clear room for additional images.

Talk Page Discussion

The Talk Page indicates that much of the article may be considered off-topic as it extends well beyond the scope of the topic. This is clearly an issue, however it is worth mentioning that nothing seems blatantly irrelevant to the topic but rather slightly beyond the scope of the article.

Overall Impressions

The article is an excellent summary of the topic and is more than comprehensive, with sources to draw from. There is potentially too much information that goes beyond the scope of the article however all of it pertains to the general topic. Main improvements would be to make the article more concise and slightly more objective/balanced.