User:Fishnchips100/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: (link)
 * The notion of an idiolect is a curious way of understanding language. I'm certainly interested in exploring the philosophy behind such a notion and, as such, have chosen to evaluate this article.

Lead

 * Guiding questions

The Lead includes a clear and concise introductory sentence into the topic of idiolects, however it is missing a brief description of the articles major sections. It also adds the etymology of the term "idiolect," however I noticed right away that the citation only applied to the etymology of  '-lect'  and fails to account for the Greek prefix  'idio-'.


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?

Content

 * Guiding questions

The article's content is certainly relevant to the topic and up-to-date as far as I can tell. Nonetheless, I believe there is an insufficient amount of information related to the two examples in the "Forensic Linguistics" section. The details pertaining to each are fascinating and needlessly ignored in the article.


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
 * Is the content up-to-date?
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions
 * The article seems even and neutral throughout. There are no evident biases or persuasions in any of the sections.


 * Is the article neutral?
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions

I am finding the "Language" section of the article a bit lacking in citations, notably for the claim about universal grammar and for the first sentence (which another editor has already flagged). Aside from that, the sources that are cited seem thorough, reliable, and equipped with working links.


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
 * Are the sources current?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Organization

 * Guiding questions

For the most part the article is well-written and well-organized, yet unfortunately it seems to be lacking in further information about the topic which I have no doubt exists. My biggest complaint is its sparsity.


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions

The article has no images, however, I'm not sure the addition of an images would enhance understanding at all. With the exception of a diagram, perhaps, the article seems sufficient without images.


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
 * Are images well-captioned?
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions

Surprisingly, there's a multi-faceted discussion going on behind the scenes of this article. People are debating various concepts, such as the relevance of the distinction between "idiolect" and "eye dialect" and more. I'm especially glad to see others agree with me about the need for more information and sources.


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions

In my opinion, this is a fine article, it's just not there yet. It needs more information or more citations in almost every section, but as it stands currently the article is a nice, concise overview into an often over-looked topic.


 * What is the article's overall status?
 * What are the article's strengths?
 * How can the article be improved?
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?

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

with four tildes — ~


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