User:Biggerstaffjustin/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: Animals in space
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.

This is somewhat related to biology and my major which is animal ecology.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?

Lead evaluation
The lead does provide a good introductory sentence that clearly describes the article topic. The article is divided up into the decades in which non-human animals were sent to space, but the lead fails to show a range of dates in which non-human animals were sent to space, which could have been helpful in indicating that that's how the article was going to be sectioned. There is no information in the lead the isn't present in the article and the lead is concise when compared to the content in the article.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
 * Is the content up-to-date?
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?
 * Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics?

Content evaluation
The content is relevant to the topic and is up-to-date, but the article could be more in-depth. The article seems to just give quick summaries of animals that were sent to space but doesn't always give reasons as to why each animal was sent to space and if the animals were affected in anyway, which would be important information to include. There is one segment that doesn't seem to belong as it is describing a bat that was hanging on the fuel tank of a shuttle and was killed. This seems unrelated as it wasn't an animal that was meant to be sent to space and it quickly died. This article doesn't deal with any equity gap.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral?
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?

Tone and balance evaluation
The article is neutral and doesn't seem to try to convince the reader in any particular direction.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
 * Are the sources current?
 * Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation
Not all claims in the article are backed up by sources. There is a diverse list of sources but not all facts have a source to back them up.

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?

Organization evaluation
The article is well-written and easy to understand and divided into relevant sections.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
 * Are images well-captioned?
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?

Images and media evaluation
The article has some images but more could probably be found and used.

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Talk page evaluation
Some of my criticisms were brought up in the talk page but no one seems to have fixed the criticisms I had. Some of that has to do with the fact that the information isn't the easiest to access, so it wasn't able to be shown as a source.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status?
 * What are the article's strengths?
 * How can the article be improved?
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?

Overall evaluation
I think this article could be greatly improved as there seems to be a lot of information that would be relevant and good to know, and there are also claims that aren't backed up by any source.

Optional activity

 * Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback

with four tildes — ~


 * Link to feedback:

Talk:Animals in space