User:Dalia Arafat5221/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Color psychology

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
A few years ago I read an article about how some pediatric hospitals try to decorate the rooms and lobby using certain/specific colors. The thought behind this was that certain colors, such as pastels and warm tones, are considered calming to children. I have been interested in the theories and psychology behind color ever since and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was an article topic on that I could base my assignment on. Initially, I skimmed through the article and did not notice any major errors or issues with the writing style, formatting, grammar, etc. However, after evaluating the article and considering the bullet points/questions above, I realized that this article could be greatly improved with a few changes.

Evaluate the article
I believe that this article on color psychology could have started with a stronger lead. The opening sentence sets the ground for the article's topic. However, the lead should be shorter. Too much information is given in the lead sections, it's overly detailed. For example, when the writer introduces one of the topics of the article (colors affect emotion), they also include a few facts to back the topic up. They then go on to explain that multiple studies have been published "in support of Color Psychology." Not only does this information utilize somewhat persuasive language, but it is also unnecessary. Facts regarding the topics being presented in the lead should be included in each topic's respective section. The lead's section does include each topic that will be included in the article. It also seems to only include information that is present in the rest of the article.

Much like the lead section, the content throughout the article could have been better constructed. While every topic mentioned in the lead is covered, some topic sections have either too much or too little information or information that is irrelevant to the main topic. One example of this would be the history section. When discussing the history of color psychology, the writer only discusses the origins and one prominent figure associated with the topic. The history section does not go beyond discussing Carl Jung being "prominently associated with the pioneering stages of color psychology" and his various studies. The history section should be more developed. Perhaps in this section, the writer could discuss how color psychology evolved after its initial discovery/usage. As for relevance to the topic, there was one section that appeared out of place, the cartography section. The writer spends a large portion of the cartography section discussing what the various colors mean with no relation to psychology. The only mention of color psychology in the cartography section is at the very end. This section strays from the main topic of the article. The writer should either expand on the color psychology behind the color coding of maps or remove the section entirely as it does not currently add anything useful to a reader who wants to learn about color psychology. Aside from the history section, the rest of the sections in the article appear to be up-to-date and relevant to the topic.

In the lead section, the article does use biased/persuasive language in support of color psychology. As I briefly mentioned above, the writer mentions that there have been many published studies in support of color psychology. This claim seemingly comes out of nowhere as there was nothing prior to the claim leading up to it. The article appears to attempt to persuade the reader in favor of color psychology. While the writer does cite sources for their claims supporting color theory, they rarely mention those that oppose/disagree with this study. The writer does not cover other viewpoints or concerns from various groups. Supporting viewpoints are overrepresented whereas opposing viewpoints are underrepresented.

A few of the facts provided throughout the article are backed up by sources that may not be reliable. For example, one of the sources is an online magazine. The writer cites an article from the official website of this online magazine. Another source appears to be a food blog where various recipes and tutorials are shared on the official website. Again, the writer cites an article that is taken directly from the official website. Many of the sources are journal articles that adequately reflect the topic of the article. These journal articles are also up-to-date. For the examples of insufficient sources that I listed above, there are many other sources that could have been used in their place. The online magazine was used to support the claim that heterosexual men find women in red clothing to be more attractive whereas women do not have a color preference with clothing. When I searched the UAB Libraries' database, I found numerous, relevant journal articles that could have been used in place of the online magazine. Journal articles demonstrating various studies on the topic could have been used instead of the magazine and food blog. There are many sources listed and they appear to come from a wide variety of authors. The links that I clicked on are all functional and take me directly to the source.

The article is well-organized. It is easy to understand and the information provided is divided into their respective sections. I did not notice any grammatical or spelling errors in the majority of the article, however, there was one sentence that threw me off. The sentence "in very rare locations is water as deep and pure a blue as is commonly used in maps" is very confusing. The wording could be clearer as I do not completely understand what the writer is trying to express with this sentence.

All of the images used throughout the article are relevant and enhance the reader's understanding of the topic. The images are well-captioned. Images depicting certain locations explain the main subject of the photo and also include the specific location. Any people in the images are included in the caption as well. The captions under all of the images help clarify what the image is depicting. All of the images utilized in the article adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations. For the most part, the images all appear next to the text on the right-hand side. However, two of the images break this pattern by appearing on the left-hand side in a way that interrupts the flow of the text.

The only thing added to the talk page of this article is a comment made by a college psychology student discussing the additions that they believe should be added to the article. There is one more comment that says the best thing about the article is the formatting of the various subtopics throughout the article. The only WikiProjects that this article is a part of is psychology capstone. This article is rated C-class. I have not talked about color theory in any of my classes, therefore I do not know how this article's discussion of the topic is different from in-class discussions.

Overall, I would say that this article is underdeveloped. While many sections of this article are well done, there are a few additions, or in some cases, subtractions that can be done to improve the article for readers. Better sources could be used as I mentioned above. The history section of the article should be more developed. The lead section should be less information-heavy and more direct and concise. There also seems to be a bias toward color psychology. The writer appears to want to persuade the reader to support color psychology. As one comment mentioned, the article does a good job of dividing the article's topics/subtopics into various sections. Overall, the writing is easy to understand and the grammar is good for the most part.