User:Emedmunds/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Oil pulling

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose to evaluate this article because I am interested in the correlation between alternative medicine and self-care. With a large increase in mainstream media of ways to switch normal self-care products into a more natural approach, oil pulling is one I have heard quite a lot about.

Evaluate the article
The first sentence of the lead section provides a very concise definition of oil pulling including how one can engage in the practice of oil pulling in a sentence structure that can be easily and quickly understood by the reader. Being very brief already, the lead section only contains two short paragraphs. Nonetheless, the lead section provides enough details to make it satisfactory and well understood, but not too much information to cloud the readers from the main points of the practice of oil pulling. The lead article addresses the history as well as the criticism for the practice, thus being a good representation of the entire article. The content is up to date in that the citations within the article are all within the last eight years, and is all relevant to information introduced in the lead section. I do not see any information that does not belong or unrelated to the topic. The article does not address topics related to minority representation or anything of the sort. The article is written from a somewhat neutral perspective, and no bias perspectives are necessarily present in that the content is skewed or made to convince the reader to believe a certain idea or opinion that may not be their own. But however, there is more criticism of the topic and sources backing up the criticism, than sources condoning the practice of oil pulling. There is only a small paragraph in the leading section that reflects the opinions and ideas of those who believe oil pulling is a valid form of alternative medicine. If another perspective was added, the article would appear more well-rounded. As mentioned previously, the articles cited are current, written by a diverse spectrum of authors, and reflect the current information known on the topic. The links work when clicked on and the reader will be redirected to the corresponding work cited in the article. The article is well cited, but could be stronger if it contained a "Popularity" section in that readers can see how the practice of oil pulling has made a rise to popularity through popular media, rather than just a brief history section of one sentence. This being said, the article could be further strengthened with a more in depth "History" section with more information taken from the sources for the reader's convenience. The article is well organized and contains proper syntax and spelling. The article contains no images, but could be strengthened with the use of visual aids to further explain the practice of oil pulling. In the article's talk page, there is discussion on the merge between mouthwash and oil pulling or a merge between oil pulling and detoxification (alternative medicine). Overall, this article has much to add in order to be deemed fully developed, but is a great start given the limited information and knowledge on the topic. The article is rated a C-class article, and is part of the Wikiproject Medicine, Wikiproject Alternative Medicine, Wikiproject India, Wikiproject Dentistry, and Wikiproject Skepticism.