User:GRANTLEICHTER/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article (Robert Mugabe)
This is where you will complete your article evaluation. Please use the template below to evaluate your selected article.


 * Name of article: (link) Robert Mugabe
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate: I chose this article because it is related to the country I was assigned (Zimbabwe) and its most prominent political figure.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic? Yes, it describes exactly who Robert Mugabe was.
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections? Not really. It essentially just describes Mugabe in general
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article? No. Every major point mentioned in the lead has a link that takes you to a particular section of the article.
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed? Not overly detailed, gives a good general idea of who Mugabe was without paying too much attention to detail.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic? Yes, it is strictly about Robert Mugabe and his impact on Zimbabwean politics.
 * Is the content up-to-date? Yes, its last edit was on January 25th.
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong? No. It seems that the vast majority of facts about Mugabe are included. His life is described in chronological order of major events and all sections are described in great detail.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral? Yes. It presents the facts in a non-biased way, not giving off a positive or negative connotation.
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? No. Everything seems to be made as neutral as possible.
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? No. Every section goes into so much detail that nothing seems to be over or underrepresented.
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another? Not necessarily. The political leanings of the reader would have the greatest effect on their thoughts on Mugabe, not anything having to do with the way the article was written.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information? Yes. There are over 500 sources listed on the bottom of the webpage.
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic? Yes. There are many scholarly articles coming from academic journals.
 * Are the sources current? Yes. Many of the secondary sources used were written within the past couple of years.
 * Check a few links. Do they work? Yes.

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read? Yes. The sentences are simple yet clear in the point they are trying to make.
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors? Not as far as I can tell after multiple reads.
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic? Yes. The table of contents presents a chronological order of Mugabe's life with links that take the reader to respective sections.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic? Yes. Mugabe is shown making important policy deals, and the logo of his movement (ZANU) is shown to help the reader visualize his movement.
 * Are images well-captioned? Yes, they are all very high quality.
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations? Yes. When clicking on the photos, evidence is provided that they are in the public domain.
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way? Yes. They are scattered throughout the article and are placed strategically in the specific sections that they each relate to.

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? Many people were discussion how exactly the article should be edited following the death of Mugabe. One person mentions that the name of the hospital he was in was written incorrectly, so another user corrected it.
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? This article has been listed as a level 4 vital article and classified as one of the "social sciences and society good articles." It is a part of 6 different WikiProjects as far as I can tell.
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? While we have only briefly talked about Zimbabwe in class when discussing independence, the section of this article that shows the role Mugabe played in turning a revolutionary movement into a political party is similar to what we had discussed.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status? Overall, I found this to be a high quality article with a lot of important and interesting information
 * What are the article's strengths? The biggest strengths I see are organization and density. The article is laid out and easy to follow. While it is quite long, the reading is not so dense as to diminish the readers understanding.
 * How can the article be improved? The article could be improved by potentially talking more about Mugabe's impact on Zimbabwe's current political landscape. While it goes into great detail about how he shaped Zimbabwean politics, it does not truly discuss the politics today and how Mugabe influenced current institutions.
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed? The article is certainly very-well developed. Given that Mugabe is the most important political figure in the short history of Zimbabwe, it should be a given that there is plenty of information on him to make a clear and concise article about his life and accomplishments.

Optional activity

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