User:Cloomis14/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_reduction_theoryI chose this article because the uncertainty reduction theory has always been fascinating to me since I first learned of it in an introduction to human communication class. I think how strangers engage, interact, and react to one another is interesting and this is a theory that helps better explain how people feel or act when meeting someone new.

Lead

There is an introductory sentence, but it is a bit complex to understand. Right under the paragraph they have that describes what the theory is about is a "background" section that has a better introduction sentence that should have been placed at the beginning of the article. The article includes a brief description of the major section which is the theory itself. There is another name for the theory which is "initial interaction" which is not mentioned in the rest of the article. The lead has information that is stated more than once, and it could be shortened because of that. It is a bit hard to read since there is not enough information telling the reader what the actual theory is about until they get to the background section of the article. This lead is very detailed and has information that is unneeded in the first sentence.

Lead evaluation

Content

I believe most of the content is relative to uncertainty reduction theory, but there is a lot that could be deemed unnecessary. The page has multiple paragraphs on how strangers meet, converse, exit interactions, the different types of uncertainty, and many more useful thoughts that help better explain the theory for someone to better understand. The content is up to date since at the bottom the last article cited was from 2014, making the content still relevant and up to date. I think the article would still be educational if the "contemporary use" section was taken out. It seems like it is a little wordy for what is being discussed in previous sections. Maybe if the section was reduced in terms of how text heavy it is, it may be beneficial to have it.

Content evaluation

Tone and Balance

Since the article is about a communication theory, I do think it is at a neutral position because of the fact that it is not about something particularly controversial and more about a claim made by trusted scholars. The view points for the most part are kept short and sweet with a detailed enough description to give the reader an idea of what the article is talking about and if more research is needed for that particular area, there is room for that person to go and do it. I do not believe the article tries to persuade the reader one way or another since the article is about a communication theory.

Tone and balance evaluation

Sources and References

I believe the facts presented in the article are backed up by reliable sources. The page has a clear reference page with close to 50 sources cited in the article. Next to an area where information for the source is cited is a number the reader can click on and it takes them directly to the source in the references section. Most of the sources are current and were created in the 2000s and 2010s. There are some older sources that are presented, but I believe those are to give background on the scholars who founded the theory and how it came to be the theory it is known as today. The links cited in the article do work and provide extra material on the matter of the uncertainty reduction theory if the reader wanted to look into the theory more.

Sources and references evaluation

Organization

The article is easy to read for a viewer who is looking for something casual with a basic understanding of uncertainty reduction theory. There are sections that go into explaining different aspects of the theory, but some of them are unnecessary and unneeded. After doing further digging into the article, I did find that there were some typos, grammatical errors, and sentence structure issues that should be fixed.

Organization evaluation

Images and Media

There is a table that breaks down the theorems of the theory and that is the only image used in the article. I believe the author of the page created the table themselves instead of taking it from a website and citing where it came from. The table is easy to view and understand which gives the reader a better understanding of what they are reading about.

Images and media evaluation

Checking the talk page

The first comment back in 2005 stated that the article was hard to understand and very vague when it came to the actual definition of the theory itself. One of the more recent comments from 2014 still stated the same thing even after many people and the original author went back and changed a lot about the article. The comments state that the article is still challenging to read and could link more Wikipedia pages in the article so the reader can interact and be led to other concepts linked to the theory as well. The article is “C” rated and also viewed as “mid-importance” on the project’s importance scale. It seems to be part of a student’s WikiProject back in 2014 from the University of Hull and has been used by many students from other universities in their WikiProjects. Our class has not covered the uncertainty reduction theory, but I hope we do before the semester is over.

Talk page evaluation

Overall impressions

The article is viewed as mid-importance in terms of the field of psychology. I think the strengths are that the article has some good solid information that can be put to good use and it is also easy for the reader to understand the basic concept of what is being said. The article still has room for improvement in terms of taking out pieces of information that are not necessary, in depth editing so the page has minor to no errors, and making sure the author provides and even more clear introduction to the theory so the reader does not have to go down to the background to find out the information that should be in the first sentence. For a class project, I think the article is well written for someone who most likely did not have extensive training to write an article on a topic such as uncertainty reduction theory.