User:Dr.knowit/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Hudson's Bay Queen Street

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I have chosen to evaluate this specific article because it does not give a true representation of Hudson's Bay Queen Street. The photo in this article is outdated and does not reflect what the building looks like today. As well the heading above the photo states "Hudson's Bay Queen Street," in bold and the subheading underneath the photo reads "Simpson's Department Store (1908) - which is confusing.

Additionally, I would like to include a brief summary regarding the impending closure of this building, as it is not mentioned.

This article is important for me to update because it contains content concerning Canadian history. I am proud to have been born in Canada and would like to represent the parts of this country with accuracy and finesse.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section

The lead section is unclear. It does not introduce the topic (whatever the one topic may be) clearly and presents information that should be in a sub category like history. It is overly detailed and does not provide a concrete introduction to the article.

Content

This article places a significant emphasis on the building former name, Simpson's Department Store. While it is relevant to the topic, other aspects of Hudson's Bay Queen Street such as the organizations history should have been included. I mention this because it is very confusing as to what the primary subject is of this article. Was this article written to place emphasis on the actual building or the company using the building: Hudson's Bay?

Tone and Balance

This article does appear to have been written from a neutral point of view however, phrases like "Unlike Eaton's," found in the 8th paragraph of the article gives off a feeling that the Eaton's Centre is inferior to the Hudson's Bay Queen Street.

Sources and References

There are some sources used in this article that are reliable such as information from The Canadian Encyclopedia, The City of Toronto website, and CBC news. However, the are a couple sources that include broken links to pages not found and websites that are opinion based.

Organization and Quality Writing

This overall writing and organization of the article is OK. Some things that could improve include the choice of words. For example, two consecutive sentences included the same descriptive word: Flagship. A variety of vocabulary throughout this article would make it a more engaging read. There are also issues with the amount of information provided in each sentence. In the third paragraph, the first sentence includes an overwhelming amount of information such as when the building was built, who built it, the style of the buildings architecture and the colour. This sentence could be broken down to shorter sentences that are easier to read.

Images and Media

There are only three images on this wiki page and they are poorly captioned. One of the two photos is a blurry google maps screen shot that does not really have a purpose on this wiki page. The photos are outdated and they are not formatted in a visually appealing way. On the top right of the article where the first photo is show is an vintage shot of the building. Then, as readers scroll down on the article they are presented with another photo of the front of the building with a Hudson's Bay logo and Canadian flags. While it is obvious to someone with education that the second photo seen is what the building looks like today, it might not be obvious to another person who is unfamiliar with the company. It would be beneficial to have proper captions that identify the photo, when it was photographed, and depict what the purpose of the photo is.

Talk Discussion

On the quality scale of Wikipedia this article is considered a "start" article which means that the article is in development and much is yet to be completed. In other words, the article does include important information but the article still needs a lot of work. One of the reasons this article has likely not been worked on is because it serves as an article with low importance. It is not likely an article that people outside of Canada would be reading and its needs to be completed is not as immediate as other Canadian content articles.

Overall Impression

This article is poorly developed and lacks unity. The title of the article page is confusing and does not reflect the content of the article. There is not information after the year 2016, highlighting more recent events involving the building / organization.

Overall, there is just no clear topic being described in the article. Is the article about the Simpsons company, Hudson's Bay Company, the buildings architecture, or the buildings history? I see a lot of overall history of the building and its uses and if this is the case, the name of the article should not be title Hudson's Bay Queen Street, especially considering the fact that Hudson's on Queen street has sold the store. This article would benefit from a new title, updated photos, and from more uniform information.