User:Bluup/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
(Structures built by animals)

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
The article I chose to evaluate is titled "Structures built by animals". I chose this article because I find the ability of some animals to form materials or take them from their natural world and use them to construct shelters and tools incredibly fascinating. This article is important because these structures are found in many different animals, serve multiple purposes, and can be built with a variety of tools. The act of building structures can be found in many different classes of animals, such as birds, bugs, and mammals. These edifices can serve different functions, such as catching prey in a spider web or housing young in a bird's nest. Materials used for building also vary, and can be produced by the animal (ex: a spider producing silk) or taken from the animal's environment (a beaver collecting sticks to build a dam). Since these animals use these structures for important aspects of their lives, this article detailing the construction of these structures is important.

My first impression of this article was that many sections could benefit from more details. Sections of the article such as the kinds of animals that build structures, transportation builds, materials formed by animals, mud and stones as building materials and evolutionary consequences did not contain much information. Finding more sources and adding more details to these sections could help provide a more comprehensive description of the topic.

Evaluate the article
The lead section of the article could use some more details about the overall topic instead of specific details that are not mentioned in the following article. The Introduction does not provide a definition of what constitutes a structure built by animals, but does provide many examples of such structures and another common term for these builds (animal architecture). The lead section briefly mentions some topics later discussed in the article, such as thermoregulation and animals species that build structures, but sections of the article such as building materials are not mentioned. Some information is included that is not discussed further in the article, such as chimpanzees that construct nests at night, the neural responses that cause birds to form songs, and constructions resulting from the release of hormones in sows. While the introductory section could use some more details about the definition of an animal structure and later sections of the article, some of the details in introduction that are not present throughout the article could be removed.

The content in this article could benefit from more details in certain sections. The content appears up to date, with many sources used in the article published within the last twenty years. This article does not contain any content related to underrepresented populations or topics. The information in the article is all relevant to the main topic, and there is no content included that should not be present in the article. While some sections of the article are detailed, more content would be preferable in sections such as the kinds of animals that build structures, transportation builds, materials formed by animals, mud and stones as building materials and evolutionary consequences. Some pieces of information were mentioned but not elaborated on, such as communication between members of a species as a function of building structures.

The tone of this article remains neutral and balanced throughout. The article does not push a certain article or agenda, and aside from one sentence mentioning an "interesting example" there are no opinions included in the writing. The article briefly mentions that some researchers believe that constructing structures can effect the evolution of animals, however there is little information provided on this viewpoint and it is not certain whether or not it is a minority viewpoint. The article makes no attempt to persuade the reader and there does not appear to be any bias.

The sources and references appear adequate, but are not always used throughout the article. The references are from works by many different individuals. The sources used are from published books and textbooks. Most of the links work, however a couple do not redirect to the source and some sources are not available. One source does not include the title or publisher, only the name of the author and the pages used. Most sources originated within the last 20 years, however some are 25-40 years old. Some facts are not backed up by sources, such as the list of animals that build structures in the introduction and the section on evolutionary consequences. Sources appear to reflect what is known about the topic of animal structures. Including sources from scientific journals could be useful.

There is good organization and writing quality present in the article. The writing is clear and easy to understand. The main points of the article are divided into separate sections. There are few to no spelling and grammatical errors.

The images presented in the article help the reader to understand the given topic by providing examples of animal structures being built. The captions on images are very descriptive and explain what is occurring in the picture. The images are organized and laid out next to the corresponding text. Some images are owned by the authors of the page, while all other images include sources.

There are few discussions included on the talk page. The article is rated C-class and is part of WikiProject Biology. It is mentioned that building structures may be a learned trait, which would be studied under comparative psychology as mentioned in class.

Overall, this article is well written and organized, but would benefit from the addition of more information and needs to cite sources throughout. Some sections of the article are detailed, but many sections lack important information and details that would provide a better understanding of the topic. This article is C-class and underdeveloped