User:Crazyheeler/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: Guppy Mating
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.

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 lead gives general information about the species and some introduction to the content in the rest of the article. However, it would benefit by organizing the content in the lead more closely to the way the rest of the article presents information and including language that is specifically reflected in the headings and subheadings listed later in the article.

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?

Content evaluation
The content covers a broad range of work in guppies that appears up-to-date.

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 does not take any positions and maintains a neutral tone throughout.

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?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation
Facts listed in the article are all backed up by peer-reviewed publications. The article includes a variety of sources, but likely could include more due to the large body of work on guppy mating systems. Most of the sources were published within the last few decades and appear to have working links.

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?

Organization evaluation
Although the article is well written within each section, it could benefit by reorganizing some of the content in each subsection. The "reproduction" subsection could be included within "ecology and behavior", where it could be combined with "mating". In the mating section, the article would benefit from first focusing on the behavioral components discusses in the mating and reproduction sections, then moving on to guppy reproductive physiology, inbreeding avoidance in natural populations, and then inbreeding depression in captive populations. I would suggest changing the heading "Females' Mating Choice" to "Female Mate Choice" to reflect the language used in the literature.

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 provides images and video that compliment the content well, although the article may benefit from reorganizing some images. The image of the fry does not compliment the content presented in the reproduction section would be more appropriate in the life cycle section.

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
This is a C-class article and is included in WikiProjects Fish Articles. Most of the conversations are about how to organize the article or are about specific cited material. However, some of the comments are just personal observations about guppies and do not appear to offer specific suggestions for representing the material.

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
I think the article provides a good amount of information and covers a broad range of topics related to the natural history of guppies, but the content could certainly be expanded for the sections covering ecology and behavior, especially since the article states that guppies are a model organism in ecology, evolution, and behavior. The organization of this article could definitely be developed further.

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

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