User:Davis.khz/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: Manx language
 * I will be evaluating this article because it is about the language which I have chosen to do multiple assignments on for this course.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * The lead's first sentence clearly outlines what Manx is, and informs the reader about what they are about to read.
 * The lead includes a broad description of the history, revival, culture and documentation of the language. This is inline with the major sections except for orthography, phonology, loanwords and morphology.
 * All the information in the lead, is further described later in the article.
 * The lead is concise and not overly detailed. However, mention of some of the aforementioned linguistic topics would be a good addition.

Lead evaluation 4/7

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * All of the content in the article is relevant to the Manx language. Perhaps in the loanwords section it might go into the history of other languages, but it still serves the goal of exposition of the Manx language.
 * To my knowledge, the content is up to date.
 * There is not a lot of content related to the reasons for the downfall of Manx. There is a "Learning the language" section which doesn't feel as if it belongs.  It feels almost like an advertisement.
 * This article does deal with historically under-represented folks. The Manx people are a small group of people with little representation, and a language that isn't officially recognized anywhere.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Most of the article is fairly neutral. There is a slight bias towards the revival effort.
 * In the "Learning the language" section, the bias towards wanting people to grow the language is noticeable.
 * Excluding the "Learning the language" section, I think the viewpoints are well balanced
 * As stated above, the article has a slight note of persuasion to try to get the reader to learn the language.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * There are a significant amount of facts that are not backed up by any source. Especially concerning translation and some historical details.
 * The sources are fairly current.  However there are one or two older texts from the Manx perspective that I wouldn't mind seeing referenced.  Also there is quite a nice source they have included which is a dissertation by Simon Ager.
 * The sources are as current as I have found.
 * The sources are from quite a wide variety of authors. There is everything from books written centuries ago by a Manx man, to documentaries on Manx.
 * All of the links I have checked work.

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * This article is very well written. The language is clear and words are not wasted.  There isn't any unnecessary flourish to the writing.
 * I have not found any in the English part of the article. Of course I am unqualified to comment on the Manx part.
 * The article is well organize, information is laid out in a logical order. Specific information is easy to find.  If I were to suggest an improvement, it would be to shorten and clean up the vocabulary section.  There are a lot of word.  I feel as if the article should explain the language, its history and its components.  I don't think there is a need to begin teaching the language in this space.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * There are a few images, however their usefulness is questionable. The map locating the Isle of Man is nice.  The pictures of Manx art and landscape helps understand the culture of the language.  However the two pictures of signs seem to add nothing.  Finally the picture of the sheep seems completely out of place.
 * All of the images are well captioned as the captions allow them to be identified without reading the article. Then the article contextualizes them.
 * All of the images are within the copyright rules of Wikipedia.
 * The images are laid out in a standard way. There is nothing that looks particularly nice, but nothing is out of place.

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * There are discussions concerning the integrity of some of the claims about phonetics of Manx. As well as the history of orthography involved in Manx.  There are quite a few complains about claims that the author makes that are ambiguous and may lead to the reading thinking something that is not intended.  There are concerns about using the word "however" too much. There are also concerns about including too much vocabulary and pronunciation.
 * The article is rated as a B-class. It is part of the WikiProjects. It is a level-5 vital article.
 * The talk page is less concerned with causes and consequences. They're less concerned with things that are more abstract or generalized.  It is more concerned with specific details, and if the article is written in a clear and engaging way.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * The article does not have a featured status.
 * The strength of the article lies in its clear writing and concise retelling of the history of Manx.
 * The article includes too much information about vocabulary and pronunciation. Some of the pictures could be improved.  The learning the language section seems out of place.
 * I would say that the article is a work in progress. It is difficult to find information about Manx, but there seems to be some holes in describing the downfall of the language.  There is more focus on the revival than the downfall.

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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