User:CooperOfford/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Homeostasis - Wikipedia

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article because it is relevant to the physiological ecology of animals class that I am taking. Homeostasis is important to how animals regulate their physiology. At a first glance over the article, it looks to be extensive in its information and that it adequately covers many aspects and applications of the topic. There are only a few places where it notes that it needs more information/expansion.

Evaluate the article
This article on Homeostasis gives a good covering of the term and it's applications, but it may be limited in scope as it appears to really only focus on humans and mammals in general, and some topics in it need more information. The lead section introduces the topic in a concise definition, then expands upon it. There is no description of the articles sections in the lead section, but there is a table of contents included with links to each topic/section. The lead section does not include things that are not mentioned in the rest of the article. However, towards the end of the lead section some examples of receptors and sensors and biochemistry are provided that I think would be better suited to be somewhere in further down in the main body of the article and not in the lead section. So, the lead section could have been more concise. The article's content was up to date and relevant, as far as I could tell. It provided good examples and explanations for many of the systems and processes that are involved in homeostatic control. There is some content missing for topics like homeostasis regulating iron and copper levels, energy balance, etc. However, the article indicates these fields should be expanded and filled in with information. I do think they should provide more homeostatic control systems that may apply to organisms that aren't restricted to mammals and humans, as that's what it looks like the article mainly focused on. This article has a good neutral tone and seems unbiased. There is no persuasion or over/underrepresentation, just descriptions of body systems and facts, along with some history. The sources for this article are thorough and many are current. There are a few that are fairly old, but that doesn't mean the information is false. Many come from scientific journals in biology and medicine and are peer reviewed. I think that most of the facts in the article are adequately cited, but there are a few spots where it looks like citations may be needed, such as in the Fluid Balance section. I checked a few of the links, all of which worked. The article looks to be well written without any grammatical or spelling errors that I could detect. Some sections look to be more concise than others, but I think it's due to importance of the section to homeostasis. However, some sections like Gene Regulation and Neurotransmission are too short and need more information. The article is easy to read for the most part, but there are many scientific, biological and medical terms that a lot of people without knowledge in these fields may not know, but links are provided for explanation. There are images included in this article that enhance understanding of the topics. They are laid out nicely, and all but one bird picture has good captions on it I think they all adhere to copyright regulations, as the source is provided or it is listed as 'own work.' The talk page has some people saying what they have added (figures and info) and some other things that should be done like merging this article with one on Predictive Homeostasis? Or at least I think that's what is going on there. This article is a part of 5 WikiProjects and is a level 5 vital article that is rated C. I think for a level 5 vital article, it should be worked on more so that it can have a higher rating than a C. There overall was not much talk in the talk page, but the article in general goes over things we have already mentioned in class while going into a little more detail on the chemistry and anatomy of it. I think this is an informative article that gives a good description and history of homeostasis, but that some sections needed to be filled out more (like Neurotransmission and Gene Regulation) and some should be more concise (like Sodium Concentration). There are also a few sections that may need more citations (like Fluid Balance). Furthermore, I think homeostasis in a wider range of organisms should be incorporated. Overall, I think this article is well developed but that it needs to have more added into the Controls of Variables section and some things that are listed need to be fleshed out whereas other areas should be more refined and concise.