User:GriffinSch/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
History of communication

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I choose this article because it was under a communication section and just continued following subsections that seemed interesting. My preliminary impression of the entry is that the material was balanced and well cited giving a good base of information to new readers.

Evaluate the article
The introduction was clear an conscience allowing for a simple understanding of the articles contents. The intro also keeps information relevant and communicates it takes into account the changing of political and economic systems. It does include a brief description of the major categories it is going to cover throughout the article.

The content of the entry is well documented and thorough. it gives the different types of communications that have been used throughout history. The content also goes up to current technology of telecommunication. From what I can tell there is no information missing on how communication has changed or what techniques have been used.

The tone of the entry is neutral. There are no personal accounts or views, just facts about how communication has been used. Two sections that seem longer than others are "Early Scripts" and "Alphabet". There are no sections that try to persuade the reader into an opinion. A section statin that subsequent alphabets have descended from one original alphabet was claimed by the writer. They backed this by stating scholars have agreed with this statement and gave a source.

The facts presented in the entry are all backed by sources. The sources are referenced throughout the article and give the reader a way to check the information immediately. The sources seem to be thorough and give an accurate depiction of what communications have been used. There do not seem to be gaps in the sources or miss informed sources. Most of the sources are current except a few that were used that were published in the late 1900s. I believe there could be a few sources that could be better or from peer reviewed sources but, I think they were used to prove a point of what technological advances allowed for advancement in communication.

The article does use images to help readers better understand past uses of communication such as Ideograms or pictograms. This allows a reader to understand what is being talked about and then have a visual representation to better clarify the words. The images are well captioned and adhere to wikipedias copyright regulations. Finally the images are all laid out in the same pattern, to the the right of the text for each section allowing the reader to still be able to read the article and see the images.

There are conversations on the talk page. Some were about disagreeing with each other on evolution but, were very curious and understanding of another opinion. There was debates but not yelling at each other. There were good conversations that brought intelligent and educated responses that bettered the experience rather than made it worse. It is a part of a educational assignment at the University of Toronto and was supported y wikiproject during 2011.

The articles overall status is a starting class. It is for a brief summary of what communications have been used in the past. It allows for a reader to learn the basics and understand what changes in society have affected communication. The articles strengths are that it is clear and to the point. It gives facts on what happened and what advancements lead to a new communication system. It also gives good images to further help a reader understand the material. The article can be improved upon by using more peer reviewed articles for better supportive facts. This is a good start for a article but, can be improved upon. Some sections can also be expanded. There are a few sections on earlier communication styles that can be expanded upon. The article is not over developed or underdeveloped. It finds itself somewhere in the middle. It has a good start on information but, can have information added to it to better represent some forms of communication.