User:Carson277/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: (Afro-Russians)
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.
 * I have chosen to evaluate this article because I am interested in researching the history of Black people within Russia pre and post Soviet Union. African Americans were a target of Communist thought during the 1920s and 1930s because the challenges faced by them were seen as similar to the challenges faced by the working class in Czarist Russia and under rule of the bourgeoisie. The relationship between Black people and the Soviet Union is fascinating and the current wikipedia page on the topic does not do it justice.

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 introductory sentence of the Wikipedia page does not include any information about what the page will be discussing. The piece of information it does offer is a current statistic about the number of Afro-Russians in Russia as of 2009. However, that makes it difficult to determine whether the article is going to be an overview of Afro-Russian history or is trying to accomplish something different. The lead does not include any description of the article's major sections either. Moreover, some of the two links included in the lead, only one is functioning — the other goes to a page that does not exist. The lead is not concise, rather it is too short. It does not include information that is not present in the article; however, it does not include enough information to have a general understanding of what the article is about.

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 article's content is relevant to the topic; however, there is not enough depth of information. The article was last edited on September 6, 2020 and the statistic given about the number of Afro-Russians living in Russia is from 2009. The citation provided is to a tertiary source rather than the direct source of information, The Metis Foundation. It seems like there is uncertainty as to whether African Americans who travelled to Russia during the Comintern should be included in the definition of "Afro-Russians." Based on the definition given in the lead of the article, the section on African Americans should be removed because they were not Afro-Russians. This article does deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps in that it is talking about a marginalized group of modern-day Russian society. Today, Afro-Russians and people of color in Russia are being targeted by Russian nationalists. However, the article does not directly mention this, which is something that should be mentioned when talking about Afro-Russians. The article should follow Afro-Russians from the time of the Russian Empire, through the Soviet Union and its dissolution and modern-day Russia. As it stands, the information pertaining to Afro-Russians is incomplete.

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 definitely has a neutral tone; however, some of the language used is not academic. For instance, the article says "There was never a significant number of people of African descent in Russia..." it may have been more beneficial to find a rough estimate, if that information is available, of the number of Afro-Russians living in Russia during the Russian Empire rather than making a qualitative statement. No viewpoint is overrepresented, but I think the viewpoint of Afro-Russians is underrepresented. The article makes no mention of the role of Afro-Russians in Soviet Russian society or even of the African Americans who made sojourns to Russia during the comintern. The article does not have a persuasive tone and takes no stances on any issue. The main issue is that the amount of general information is not balanced with the amount of specific information about Afro-Russians.

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
All of the facts are backed up by reliable sources; however, some of those sources are from media outlets such as MSNBC rather than from peer reviewed or academic sources. The sources seem thorough for what is currently offered by the article in terms of information, but I think there is more to be said about Afro-Russians. The most current source is from 2010. There are clashes between Russian nationalists and Afro-Russians and that is something that could be written about and could be backed up by more contemporary sources. The sources seem to be authored by a diverse group in some sense, such as gender diversity — there is a lack of material authored by People of Color and I do not think that is representative of the literature available. Also, the links do work, but the second link is to a page on the Metis Foundation, which does not exist.

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?

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 includes well-captioned images of well-known Afro-Russians which does enhance understanding of the topic. The images are laid out in a way that flows with the article.

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 the conversations about the article are about the terminology used by the author. There was a disagreement about the use of the term Afro-Russians; however, the author defended his decision based on his own personal experience as an Afro-Russian. I do not mean to invalidate his experience, as I am an African American; however, I do not know if personal experience should be sufficient to shoot down a suggestion. The article is a part of several WikiProjects and has a C-class rating in each one. In general, the Talk page seems like a mess (I am sorry, I do not have any other word to describe it). The author is insists that they are correct because of his own personal experience as an Afro-Russian. In general, the way Wikipedia discusses this topic is different than how we discuss it in class to the extent that we have been discussing African Americans in Russia not Afro-Russians. I think both discourses have a place within this Wikipedia article.

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
Overall, this article has a C-Class status. Some of its strengths include: verifiable sources, functioning links (for the most part), and headings that very clearly explain what is being discussed in the section. The article can be improved in several ways: expanding on African-Americans within the Soviet Union, including more contemporary information about Afro-Russians in modern-day Russia, and adding citations to the information in the "Early Soviet Period" section. Overall, this article is underdeveloped and developed poorly in that it seems to have an extremely narrow scope for a topic that could suffer from a lack of authentic primary and secondary sources.

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: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject African diaspora