User:Hazelanon/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Desert Mothers

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article to evaluate, because the Desert Mothers was a topic that greatly interested me. I figured through this assignment, I could utilize my knowledge from class while also learning new information that I hadn't previously learned. My first impression of this article was that it laid a great foundation for more in-depth information. I also was able to learn a few new things about the Desert Mothers.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section:

- Yes, the first sentence describes the article's topic

- Yes, but fails to mention any important characters that would later be discussed

- No, it doesn't include any information not included in the article

- It is concise

Content:

- Yes, the content is relevant to the topic

- I believe the content is up to date, but could use more information

-Yes, content missing includes:

1) information on Susan and Paula (other notable Desert Mothers)

2) could include far more information on Melania, because she is the most researched and known Desert Mother

- I do think there is content gaps, because there could be more information on the Desert Mothers, their stories, and their roles in early Christianity. Women in historical Christianity are typically left out of conversation and historical education, so since this is one of very few articles I found on the Desert Mothers, I think there could be a lot more information

Tone and Balance:

- Yes the article is neutral

-No viewpoints that appear heavily biased

- No, I don't think there's any viewpoints under/over represented

- Yes, I think it's good that the author addressed how women (including Desert Mothers) were prominent in the desert tradition, but often left nameless. I think it would be important to further point out how they were dominant in religious tradition as well

-No, the article doesn't attempt to persuade

Sources and Reference

- Yes I believe so

- I think the sources could be more thorough once more information is added

- The sources seem to all be from the early 2000s, the latest one being 2008 if I'm not mistaken, so they definitely could use updating

- Yes I believe so

- Yes there are better sources available that's more up to date including: "The Rebel Virgins and Desert Mothers who have been Written out of Christianity's Early History

-Yes the links I checked work

Organization and Writing Quality:

- Yes it's well written, but could be more in depth

- I do not see any grammatical or spelling errors

-Organization could be better, I think it jumps from information to information without clear organization tactics

Images and Media

-In a way, I think better images could have been depicted but it does go towards the information

-Yes, images are well captioned

-Yes

-Yes, they're out of the way, but I note that I didn't notice the images at all until I had to look for them

Talk Page Discussion

-There's not much discussion; if I am observing correctly, there's only one comment on the Talk page

-The article is on WikiProjects; many topics have rated the article Low to Mid Importance

-It differs by discussing the Desert Fathers in relation with the Desert Mothers, and doesn't discuss the historical importance of the women to its full potential. It also doesn't include all of the Desert Mothers we discussed in class

Overall Impressions

-Overall status: low-importance

-Strengths: 1) addressing that women were oftentimes left out of historical contexts; 2) mentions Melania, who is of vital importance, and established a great Leading Section

-Improvements: 1) include more information, 2) tie more information back to early christianity and christianity's history, 3) include more important Desert Mothers in the conversation, 4) could go into further detail about the accomplishments, trials, and tribulations of the women

- Under-developed