User:Jbui99/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: Natural language
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.
 * I went on the page for ASL and it referred to ASL as a natural language.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
 * Yes, it tells me what a natural language is (a language that develops naturally through human history).
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
 * Yes, it has a contents box.
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
 * It has links to other definitions that are relevant, such as other fields of study that deal with this term, or general words that need to be defined before jumping into the discussion of the topic at hand (ex. how is "evolved" defined?)
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?
 * It is concise and a great summary of all I need to know.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
 * It is relevant
 * Is the content up-to-date?
 * Yes, it was updated today.
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?
 * It feels rather short, perhaps it just needs more sources to extract from.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral?
 * The information in the article is neutral, and states facts plainly rather than using subjective phrasing such as "(someone) thinks that..." It's stated when something is agreed upon in the community that could be subjective, like in the Defining natural language section, how some people might consider one language a natural language while others may not.
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * There are none!
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * As I've noticed with any discussion involving language, signed/tactile languages are only briefly mentioned at the beginning. When this article gets into the "meat," the talk about sign languages are underrepresented/not even present.
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?
 * No, it serves as an informative article for anyone wanting to know how to define a natural language.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
 * There is a paragraph that appears to have no citation next to it. Although it could link with the previous paragraph because they are in the same section?
 * 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?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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

with four tildes — ~


 * Link to feedback: