User:HunterDearden/Article Critique

= Article Review =

I visited the Lake Stevens page on Wikipedia, and found three aspects of it worth commenting on: its insufficient amount of content, its outdated information and its lack of citations.

Amount of Content
While pages for well known or larger cities have an abundance of information, the Lake Stevens page feels incomplete. The geography section mentions very little about the topography or climate, while the education section is practically nonexistent. Another useful addition to the page could be plans for town improvement discussed by city council. Road constructions, creating new parks, and fixing the lake's aerator are just a few significant issues discussed daily by the city council, yet no mention of them is on the Wikipedia page.

Outdated Information
The references used as sources for the article aren't as current as they should be. Some date as far back as 2007, while most range between 2-6 years old. In the case of using census records or city council plans, providing current information would be necessary to display any factual relevance to the page.

Lack of Citations
Except for the geography and notable people sections, very little information is cited in the article. Not only does the history section have zero citations, there aren't any sources to prove the info provided is correct. Most of what is cited reflects a limited variety, pertaining mostly to census and geographical statistics. Even still, the page only has 10 references, four of which link to websites where the information is missing or has been moved to a separate website.

Summary
As a whole, I'd rate this article as very poor. The total amount of information is limited, not only by what type of information is presented, but by the depth of description per section as well. A large portion of the facts are old and should be updated, as should the references be. Rarely are those facts cited back to their respective sources, while some details have no source to verify their authenticity. To improve this article, new, reliable sources must be cited to back up what the Wikipedia page claims.

(In accordance with the assignment requirements, I posted a question on the talk page here