User:Bowmanbk/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Feudalism

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose the article on Feudalism because it is a topic that I have personally done a good deal of research on. I know we looked at this same article last semester, but I truly feel like I have a better grasp on the concept of feudalism, as well as an ability to look at material critically that I did not possess then. My preliminary impression of the page was that the article contains good information but there are some content gaps.

Evaluate the article
The lead section of this article is effective in its communication of the ideas present in the article. The introductory sentence provides a very brief identification of the topic of the article and a somewhat nuanced definition of the word "feudalism". The section lacks an introduction to some of the main topics of the article, but it does touch on most of them. While it does begin to delve into some of the discussion around feudalism, it does not go into too much detail and remains clear and concise.

As far as the content of the article goes, there are some gaps. Most of these gaps are found in the History section of the article. The author tends to briefly introduce and idea or subject but then move on without providing a complete understanding of the idea. For example, they only dedicate a single sentence to the idea of "liege lords". It is not possible to capture even a basic understanding of this concept in one sentence. The author also fails to discuss any feudal states (for lack of a better term) other than France. And that is not to negate the significance of French feudalism, but it was not the only state in which this system existed, and to use it as the default for all feudalism does not do it justice. The historiography section, as far as I can tell, does an adequate job in explaining the emergence of the term as well as its evolution through time.

In terms of the article itself, it is well-written and very clearly organized. There were no grammatical errors that I could notice and the author uses a professional but approachable vocabulary. The article remains neutral and does not attempt to persuade the reader. It was written with the intent to educate and in the physical writing and style, it succeeds in that. The article uses frequent citations, and from some recognizable and credible sources. However, many of the sources are dated and there is likely a more updated source on the same topic, which may have provided more nuance or a different point of view.

The images within this article are mixed in their effectiveness. Some images provide a better understanding of how some feudal practices worked on the ground. There is a map within the article that provides a visual aid of what western Europe looked like broken into feudal territories. However, other images were not so effective. There is an image from the Bayeux Tapestry that seems entirely out of place based on the content of the article. The tapestry is from England, but the article barely touches on feudal England. The image cannot provide any aid to understanding the idea of English feudalism because there is barely any discussion on it in the text.

Overall, the article is relatively effective in its goal. Some sections are incredibly well developed and provide excellent information, but others, such as the History section do not provide the information necessary for a complete understanding of the topic. The historiography in the article is one of its strengths. It provides a very developed relay of the history of studying and discussing feudalism.