User:Gabydrod/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: Art music
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.
 * I chose this article mainly because of my passion for the topic of music. There are so many different elements and subcategories that contribute to music and this particular article was able to break it down into some of the most popular types we see today. Being able to evaluate this topic was extremely informative and gave me an even greater interest for some of the styles I did not know existed. Also, I found that this article could use some extra up-to-date material and creativity and I would love to contribute to it.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * 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?

Lead evaluation
The Lead's introductory sentence was clear and to the point, however, it did lack the main idea of what "art music" really is. To someone who does not know what it is, the first opener alone would leave them with many questions. The Lead included a short summary of what the article would be based on and highlighted the main idea of the text. I did notice though that the only category it elaborated on was "popular music" which barely covers the definition of art music. While the Lead did not include information that was not mentioned again in the article, it did not expand on each topic equally, meaning there was not an organized section explaining each point referenced (this was only made with "popular music"). The information in the Lead was very concise and in no way contained too many details that take away from the article. Overall, I found that the Lead had an appropriate amount of information, but could have been significantly better by including more relevant information to contribute to the article.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * 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?

Content evaluation
The contents in this article stay true to the topic and did a fair job in explaining the types of art music as well as the history of how they became what they are today. While I cannot fully attest to the validity of the information from the past, the information the article uses for the coming of pop music in the U.S. is accurate to what I have previously researched. All other material that is used I referred to the link to confirm the reliability of the facts written. Not only does the article say its last edit was made on February 1, 2020, but from what I was able to look into I found that the contents were up-to-date but could use some tweaking for a more modern approach. All the information in this article fits the category of art music, but I think it is missing the element of listing artists that have contributed to the change in music and seeing how that has developed through time.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * 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?

Tone and balance evaluation
The article is extremely neutral and does not hit any points that seem primarily biased on geared towards a certain position. It is incredibly factual so it stays away from any heavy opinions that could be offensive to viewers. I believe the topic of popular music had an appropriate amount of information, but others such as folk music, classical music and canonic music were very underrepresented. The article also kept to an extremely factual/ historical point of view so it did not have any factors of persuasion that could sway the reader to believe one way or the other– the information is not applicable to it.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * 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?

Sources and references evaluation
The facts in this article are all cited with information to link the reader to the credible source. The sources were taken from literary books, articles from sites such as Cambridge and other works made by music scholars. From reading this, I thought the sources were thorough (especially those that reflected the history of art music) but it was missing the input of current events to make it more relatable to today. If we are living in a time of art music it should be the easiest information to get! The links provided for references worked.

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * 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?

Organization evaluation
The article was very well-written and easy to read, however, it was not stimulating for the reader. As a lover of music and the arts, I thought it would be a lot more interesting than it was and they missed an opportunity for more content. While the topics were clear, it was confusing to read about jazz music in the subcategory labeled "Popular music" and I thought it should be in its own space. Other than that, I did not see any grammatical errors in the article, but overall feel the organization was poor and could use a better flow. Each style of music should have its own category to elaborate on.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * 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?

Images and media evaluation
Unfortunately, the article only contained one image on Beethoven's autographic sketched based on a piece in 1816. Nonetheless, the photo was well-captioned and adhered to the Wikipedia regulations by tagging its creditor. In regards to its visual appearance, I thought it was placed in an awkward spot and should have been anchored to a section on early classical music.

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * 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?

Talk page evaluation
Many conversations are circulating in the articles talk page, all with different opinions. Most people simply elaborated on types of music from the past such as classical, contemporary and jazz and others complained that certain styles were not represented. One particular comment that stood out to me was about how simple songs from the Renaissance would not be classified as "advanced" and according to the article's definition, would also not be considered art music. This article was rated as Start-Class on the project's quality scale, meaning it is developing and not yet complete and is part of a WikiProject for music/music genres task force.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * 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?

Overall evaluation
As a whole, the article provides an adequate amount of information but is still missing key elements for a great Wikipedia. I thought its greatest strengths were found in its rich history that highlighted early art music and its general impact on the work. Also, the article used a timeline to display the types of music used each era until the 1980s which provided a great visual for the reader. Many improvements can be made to the article including adding more images, developing information better and using more examples from today. It does not make sense that the least information is from what we are currently living in. For example, the music timeline ends in the 80s but should be up-to-date and go all the way through to 2020. Overall, this article is slightly underdeveloped and could use updating to make it complete.

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

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