User:HistoryKvinna/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: (Joy Adamson)
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate. I remember watching the Born Free film as a child, and being fascinated by the story.

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 describes the article's topic in a short paragraph (four short sentences). It doesn't include a description of the article's major sections, but a table of contents is included. No, but the reverse is true. The article contains a section on Murder and Legacy and Adamson's murder is not referenced in the Lead. The Lead is a satisfactory length.

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 basic biographical information is relevant and appears up-to-date. Some recent scholarship on Adamson's role as a conservationist could be added. See the chapter "Living with Big Cats" in the recent book Green Heroes. Another recent book on hermeneutics calls Adamson the "mother of African conservation," a claim that could be further researched and possibly added to the entry.

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 neutral is most areas. A paragraph about the relationship between Adamson and her husband is lacking a source citation and makes claims about their feelings for each other that needs to be documented. The relevance of that paragraph on their marriage also seems awkward given the primary focus of the article on Adamson's work with lions, African wildlife, and conservation.

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
As noted above, this entry could be updated given recent scholarship on Adamson. Some of the source links are not functional--one leads to a CBD sales site. The sources should be investigated more carefully, I think more scholarly material could be cited. There is heavy reliance on online versus print sources. A number of sources are newspaper stories.

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 is well-written, and I did not note grammatical or spelling errors. The biography section could be further broken down into subsections to represent different phases and aspects of Adamson's life.

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
The article includes one image of Adamson with the lioness Elsa, apparently taken from a PBS website under a "fair use" category. Since Adamson was also an illustrator, it would be interesting to have an image of one of her illustrations to add to this entry.

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
The talk page on this article has little recent activity. There was interest in the 2000s regarding Adamson's murder and whether or not the accused murderer was rightly convicted. Some corrections were made in the 2010s. The article is rated C-class, and is part of four WikiProjects: Arts and Entertainment/Science and Academica, Women scientists, Women's history, and Women Writers. From a women's history perspective, this article could be strengthened by placing Adamson and her work in a broader historical context. What difference did gender make--in her upbringing education, and professional goals? How does her experience compare/contrast with other female conservationists, scientists?

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 noted above, the article's overall status is C-class, low- to mid-importance. A strength of the article is that it provides a good basic biographical structure. It could be improved by further research in scholarly rather than popular sources, further developing discussions of Adamson's conservation work, and placing Adamson more clearly within a broader historical context.

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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 * Link to feedback:

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