User:Bksy4312/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Kneading (cats)

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article to evaluate because I have noticed this behaviour occur with two of my own cats. I have always wanted to know more about it, such as why it occurs and if it is a sign of happiness since it often occurs with purring. This article is important for people such as myself who have a pet and wish to know more about their distinct behaviours and the messages they are communicating. The first thing I noticed about this article was that there were limited citations and it was extremely bare. The short video clip of the action being performed also caught my attention right away.

Lead Section
The introductory sentence of the article clearly describes the article’s topic, however the paragraph in itself is only this one sentence. This sentence was slightly long, and could have easily been split into at least two to make it more developed. Also, the lead section does not include a brief description about the two main sections. Adding introductory information about what the article is about would be beneficial for the reader and make it more expansive.

Content
The content of the article is relevant to the topic. It speaks about the theories as to why cats knead, while also giving details about the action and the specific environments it occurs in. The information is up to date for the most part, since it includes sources as recent as 2020 and 2016, however there is an article listed from 2003 that is almost 20 years old. The only sentence that seems partially out of place is in the description section where it speaks about other instances when cats purr. The article is not about purring, it is about kneading. However, it could be argued that this information was necessary to illustrate that kneading may an example of another instinctual behaviour that occurs with purring. From searching up the topic on databases, I feel as though there is not a large amount content missing, as it is a fairly narrow topic and a significant amount of research has not been done on the behaviour. However, it would be nice for the theories associated with kneading to be expanded more upon. A section could also be added about ways to prevent this behaviour on unwanted surfaces such as furniture and skin, although this would need to be carefully framed in a way that does not describe the behaviour as bad, in order to keep an unbiased tone.

Tone and Balance
Overall, the article has a very neutral tone. It simply lays out the facts/theories and describes the action in an unbiased way. This is not a topic that is controversial or really has a strong position for the author to take, with the exception of which theory is “correct” about why cats knead. All of the theories as to why they complete this action are listed in a very balanced manner, and one theory was not favoured or promoted more than the other. For instance, the author uses the word “may” in each description of the theories, which does not confirm that this is a fact, instead that it is an idea by one of the sources.

Sources and References
The sources of this article are fairly current, as it has a website updated as recently as 2020, and the publication dates of the articles range from 2003-2016. The article from 2003 is almost 20 years old, however I had difficulty finding a similar source from a more recent date. All of the links in the reference section work, and all of the articles come from journals that have a peer-review process. The authors also used a website called “PetMD”. Although it would have been preferable to use a peer-reviewed journal article in its place, this website contains content by veterinarians, and this specific article was reviewed by a veterinary behaviourist, which I would count as a reliable source.

An issue I noticed with the article is that it is unclear where some of the information came from, as it is all not backed up by secondary sources. This is an issue that another Wiki user also noticed, since [citation needed] can be seen following one of the sentences. Another space that definitely needs a reference cited would be the sentence in the “description” section that says “Some experts consider kneading to..”. It gives no description about who these experts are or where the writer of the article obtained this information. It would be useful to know what type of experts they are, for instance veterinarian’s or animal behaviour researchers, to tell if this information is reliable. There are several other facts that could have been supported by sources as well, especially in the “action” section.

Organization and Writing Quality
The article is well-written and uses vocabulary that makes it understandable to the general public, rather than confusing scientific jargon. It is important to make science understandable to the general public so that the information is as impactful as possible for those who do not have access to scholarly sources. I did not notice any grammatical or spelling errors in this article, meaning it was carefully constructed. A critique I have with its organization is I personally would have put the action first to introduce the topic, followed by the section they have as “description”. I was also slightly confused as to why it was called “description”; the titles “Kneading theories” or “Kneading origin” may be more fitting to the content in this section.

Images and Media
The images and videos in the article greatly enhanced my understanding of the topic. It was very valuable to include the short video of the kneading action because it supported the description given and made it easier to visualize. Also, having the two photos with blankets emphasized the idea that this action occurs on soft surfaces. The captions are concise and informative, and the images are laid out in a visually appealing way with one visual media piece per section. All of the images and videos were the uploaders own work and can be found on Wikimedia commons, therefore they adhere to the copyright regulations. A suggestion I would have is to add another picture involving the “round, cat-sized nests” created when cats knead outdoors, as this would help a reader visualize it. I personally looked this up on Google images because I was interested in these outdoor nests.

Talk page discussion
The article is in the scope of WikiProject Cats, and is rated as Stub-Class quality and of low-importance. Some of the conversations on the Talk page included terms or sections that were removed and the reasoning for them, as well as issues with sources being out of date. For instance, someone removed the word “punding” because they did not feel that it came from a reliable enough source to say that this is a universal term for the behaviour. The person moved the article to fit under the term “kneading (cats)”, as this is a more reliable term that would not be confused with baking bread. Another person removed an entire section, which I agree with after reading what was written, since it contained several typos and had no strong sources. Finally, a person believed that it is not likely that kneading creates outdoor nests and thought the sources may be out of date. When I looked at this information in the article, it appears no secondary sources were given, therefore it might be wise to remove it unless the information can be found.

Overall impressions
The greatest strengths of this article are that it is well-written, clear, typo-free, and contains great supporting images. As previously mentioned, it could be improved by adding a section about how to prevent a cat from destroying furniture or skin through this behaviour, and expanding more upon the action’s origin/theories. More citations for the information from reliable, scholarly sources would be another improvement. I feel as though it is slightly underdeveloped because it is so brief and also rated as stub-class. This would be a good article for one of my classmates to choose for their final project so that the information can be expanded more upon.