User:Eblokland/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
(Provide a link to the article here.)

Colimaite

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 selected this article due to the limited information available on its Wikipedia page, and it is listed under 'list of minerals' that Wikipedia is currently trying to develop. This mineral's Wikipedia page matters because it's a relatively new mineral and little information is known. This means that as peer-reviewed articles are being published, more information should be added to the Wikipedia page. My preliminary impression of this article was that little information is known about colimaite which means further detail needs to be added to benefit the public seeking to learn more about this mineral.

Evaluate the article
(Compose a detailed evaluation of the article here, considering each of the key aspects listed above. Consider the guiding questions, and check out the examples of what a useful Wikipedia article evaluation looks like.)

Neutrality

The article is well-balanced, and no statements are given suggesting persuading the reader in a specific way. For example, there are no 'I think' or 'I believe' statements within the article. In addition, there are no sources listed in the reference section that are by the author of the Wikipedia page. Also, in terms of sources, all the sources listed are from peer-reviewed sources and are not from a blog or a newspaper where bias information might be presented.

Clarity

To allow for a greater clarity of this article to a broad range of readers some aspects of the article could be edited. For example, the chemical structure of colimaite (K3VS4) could be discusses further by adding information such as the significance of this chemical structure and why the element vanadium makes it unique. In addition, information on the applications would be useful to clarify the significance of this mineral.

I feel as if additional information under geological occurrence would be critical for a better understanding of this mineral. For example, a further explanation on the conditions (ie. temperature and pressure) that colimaite forms and why it specifically forms in the Colima volcano and not any other volcanos. Also, information regarding the extraction of this mineral from the Colima volcano would provide additional clarity.

Balanced Coverage

The article is well-balanced, and each section contains about the same information. This is important because it allows for the reader to gain a good understanding of the topic and it also ensures that research has been done on different aspects on this mineral. Although in the Composition section, information was given regarding how sulphur content address to SO2 emissions which leads to climate change. I don't think that this is relevant to the composition of the mineral regardless that the mineral contains sulphur, and a separate section should be created if this is discussed further.

Structure

The structure of the article is relatively good for the lack of information on this topic. As mentioned previously, the composition section contains information that is not relevant to the composition on the mineral. The sections contained in this article are composition, structure, physical properties, geological occurrence, and special characteristics. When comparing this article to that of copper which is listed as a ‘good article class’ heading such as history, compounds, methods, and production are listed. Although this mineral was discovered recently, further research would need to be conducted to expand on and add information to different headings to allow for more standardized information to be presented to the public.

Talk Page

The talk page for this article mentions that a photo needs to be added and that an imprecise sentence was edited. This article is part of WikiProject Rocks and Minerals although it has been rated as a low importance within this project. This correlates with the lack of information within this article and lack of discussion on the talk page. A point that should be discussed on the talk page is the removal of sulphur content leading to global warming in the composition section and the addition on information such as the relative ratio of potassium, sulphur, and vanadium within colimaite (this information was listed in one of the sources in the reference section).

Sources

The sources listed in the reference section appear to be peer- reviewed papers and there are no sources listed that are from blogs or newspapers that may present bias information. In addition, the sources have significant coverage where the peer- reviewed articles talk specifically about the mineral colimaite. Some examples of the sources listed on this Wikipedia page are a 'Manual of Mineral Science' which is an article that specifically talks about this mineral along with other minerals and a peer- reviewed article discussing this mineral being found from the Colima Volcano in Mexico.

Suggestions for improvement

Some improvement for this article is removing the information about climate change in the composition section, 'hedgehog' like particles was mentioned in the physical properties section which is relevant, but it contains a link to the hedgehog Wikipedia page which may not be relevant. In addition, a section regarding formation of this mineral would be useful and images of this mineral would be useful for the reader. Finally, in the lead section it is mentioned that the Commission on New Minerals approved colimaite as a mineral which may not be relevant.

Although, I do believe that this article does a good job at describing what the mineral looks like by describing the needles, and any rock identification features such as cleavage, luster, steak, etc.