User:Kaira Hosnedl/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: Dolly (sheep)
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate. The reason I have chosen this article to evaluate is due to my interest in the phenomenon of Dolly the Sheep. It was not until recently that I learned about Dolly the Sheep in more depth, that I found myself intrigued with the whole process. When I typed Dolly the Sheep into the Wikipedia search bar, many articles appeared and this one happened to be ranked as a C-class article. Although this article provides a sufficient amount of information about Dolly, there are some topics that could be improved upon, as well as updated.

Lead

 * Guiding questions

The Lead of the article does provide a concise introductory sentence that summarizes the article as a whole, therefore allowing for the general viewers to obtain an idea of what the article will contain. However, the lead is only composed of one sentence. It does not include a brief description of the article's major sections which holds a significant part in informing the viewers the exact contents of the article. Overall, the Lead is lacking in detail and should be updated to include a brief description of each of the article's major sections: the Genesis, Birth, Life, Death, and Legacy of Dolly the Sheep.


 * 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?

Content

 * Guiding questions

The content contained within this article is most definitely relevant to the topic of Dolly the Sheep. All aspects of Dolly's creation, as well as her life were included in a sufficient manner. After viewing the references and paying close attention to the publication dates of the articles cited within this article, it seems that this article is up to date. The most recent in text citations were published in the year of 2019. As far as content goes, there could be more details added to certain major sections of the article. For example, the Genesis section discusses very briefly of how Dolly was cloned and then goes straight into the birth of Dolly in the Birth section of the article. Although the process is discussed in this section, there should be a more detailed explanation of the cloning process, and a detailed explanation of the methods used which resulted in her birth.


 * 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?

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?

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?

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

The lead of this article provides an insightful understanding for the definition of a germline mutation, while also providing a brief description for each of the article's major components. Although vague in detail, the mention of it's occurrence, causes, clinical implications, and current therapies were present. This allows for viewers, like myself, to be informed of the exact content that is expected to follow. On a side note, this article can still be improved in some areas. There were a few sentences that could have been reworded for a better understanding. For example, the sentence, "This damage is rarely repaired imperfectly, but due to the high rate of germ cell division, can occur frequently." I had to go over this sentence numerous times to understand what was trying to be conveyed. It would have been easier to understand if it was written as, "Because of the high germ cell division rate, the damage occurs frequently, however, this damage is usually perfectly repaired." I would recommend adding more information about how common germline mutations occur and provide statistics to give viewers an idea of how many individuals are affected by such a mutation.

Another improvement that could be made involves creating two different sub-headings underneath the "Clinical Implications" heading. One for the role it plays in genetic diseases and another for the role it plays in different types of cancer. Not only would this help distinguish which category each of the conditions fall under, but it also allows for better organization of the article. In general, more information about how a germline mutation leads to different types of cancer would be a good improvement to this article. This section of the article did not contain enough detailed information and could be expanded upon. Nonetheless, this article possesses content that is up-to-date. While scrolling through the references, I noticed that a good portion of the cited sources were retrieved/published a few years ago. I found myself looking through these recent references that were cited, the latest one retrieved from 2018.

The Lead of the article does provide a concise introductory sentence that summarizes the article as a whole, therefore allowing for the general viewers to obtain an idea of what the article will contain. However, the lead is only composed of one sentence. It does not include a brief description of the article's major sections which hold a significant part in informing the viewers, like myself, the exact contents of the article. Overall, the Lead is lacking in detail and should be updated to include a brief description of each of the article's major sections: the Genesis, Birth, Life, Death, and Legacy of Dolly. On a side note, this article contains many strengths, such as the "Legacy" section that provided a great amount of explanation as to why this phenomenon led the way to future scientific findings. Providing information about other successful animal cloning, such as the primate species, was also a really nice touch. Having just learned about Dolly, it's astonishing to know about other recent studies that have used the same cloning techniques used on Dolly. Another strength is that the content is up-to-date. There are many new studies cited within this article that contain information about other animal cloning experiments. I found myself skimming through these numerous articles cited below in the References.

This article can still be improved in some areas. For example, the "Life" section of the article contains very little information about Dolly's life, despite her living up to 6.5 years! Although mentioned that she lived her entire life in the Institute that she was cloned in, how exactly was she raised? Was she kept together with other sheep, or isolated for research purposes? I was expecting to learn more about her upbringing, but did not quite get the information I was looking for. I would recommend to update this section with more details concerning her life, as the current version leaves me with many 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: