User:CuriousCorvid/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
I chose to evaluate the article on Ethnoecology.

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
(Briefly explain why you chose it, why it matters, and what your preliminary impression of it was.)

I chose it because it's one article that I'm considering using for our primary assignment. That and as a zoologist the intersection of anthropology and zoology includes ethnoecology. This makes it a prime class concept for me to narrow in on. Ethnoecology is important because it involves how people view, use, and interact with the natural world. It can contain resource management as well as religious beliefs, cultural practices, and even societal standards. My overall impression of the article is that it certainly needs a clean-up and some additions but has a decent base to work from.

Evaluate the article
The lead section is a bit weak. It needs further detail of the concepts included in the article as well as a more thorough definition of ethnoecology. The lead section is also too concise. Content wise, the section on traditional medicine is significantly shorter then all of the other sections. The article is a bit dated given that the last edit was in 2018 but the content present is related to the topic. It might also be worth it to add a section with specific examples of ethnoecology. Such as brief descriptions of how different cultures view the same concept. There are a few things that are fully quoted that should be paraphrased instead. In terms of tone it seems mostly neutral. There are a few cases where is appears that conclusions might have been drawn and that citations should be added to. But overall the content seems to be neutral toned and balanced.

There are plenty of resources but more in text citations are required. The resources presented are primarily journal articles that are peer reviewed and thus reliable. The content would likely be uplifted in a few more recent resources were used. Such as ones from the last year or two. There are some sources that are organization websites such as USFW. These should be replaced with more reliable sources. The authors seem relatively diverse in terms of background but there is room for improvement. The links present seem to work but not all of them link to English sources. As this is on the English section of Wikipedia, this should be changed.

There are no images in this article and it would be enhanced if there were. The last conversation on the Talk page is from 2018 and it regarded fixing citations and the need for actual examples. This article is rated as a starter but of mid-importance. It is part of the WikiProject Anthropology. This article appears to have been written through a Western lens even though it's tone is neutral. Given the topic, the article would be more useful if multipel cultural frames of reference were included. In class we attempted to do so by looking at issues from multiple cultural points of view. Adding specific examples of ethnoecology might aid in this broadening of the article.

Overall this article is very underdeveloped, which aligns with it's status as a starter. More concrete examples are needed and current concepts needed to be covered more in depth. The basic outline is decent and the tone is neutral. There are numerous references that are great journals but should be used more within the Wikipedia article. The references present could also benefit from a clean-up and more in-text citations would be beneficial.