User:Kamur93/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
I will be evaluating a Wikipedia article on Royal jelly.

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article because it is a relevant topic concurrent with caste development in social insects. The article on royal jelly can be used as a model for understanding the evolution of complex traits (i.e., caste differentiation regulated by epigenetic factors). My initial impression of the article was that it had outdated references and lacked substantial information on the biological pathways involved in explaining the effect of royal jelly. Throughout the article, there were sections that required proper citations and the content lacked concrete details supported by scientific evidence.

Evaluate the article
Lead section

This portion of the article provides a moderately concise introduction to royal jelly and establishes brief descriptions of the article's major sections. The lead section provides a contents table, accurately depicting the topics covered in the article in an organized manner. Overall, the introductory paragraph in this section has enough relevant information about this topic without being overly detailed.

Content

The article does not specify the critical timeline in the developmental stages that distinguishes female castes in honey bees: the worker and the queen. It requires information on the transition in diet and feeding proportion differences between both castes. The environmental conditions required to maintain royal jelly and its degradation process is not included. The section called 'production' lacks relevant citations and does not provide substantial details on the production process of royal jelly. The proteins in royal jelly are not accurately represented in the article and the mechanistic pathways are not described. I think this article should include more recent research, which has tested the effects of royal diet on other insect models such as fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). Furthermore, a section on the evolutionary significance of royal jelly in honey bees would be recommended in relation to caste differentiation and its association with eusociality in Hymenoptera.

Tone and balance

The article has a perceived neutral stance on the topic of royal jelly and is written from a seemingly objective perspective. Throughout the article, the formal tone and academic use of scientific terminology establishes a sense of credibility. The topic of alternative medicine and its impact of human health are underrepresented in the article, thus it is recommended for cultural and historical background information to be included.

Sources and references

There are several sections such as 'production' and 'cultivation', which lack citations to support the author(s) claims. The current citations listed in this article ranged from 1956-2005, thereby, requiring an updated section of references. It is recommended for this article to include published research journals ranging from 2010-2021, to provide optimal evidence of new scientific breakthroughs regarding this topic.

Organization and writing quality

The delivery of the article's content is concise and the syntax and diction are appropriate. The article does not contain any major grammatical or spelling errors. Furthermore, the organizational flow is adequate and easy to follow along because the introductory section of the article established a clear structure of the major sections.

Images and media

The two images provided in the article enhance the content because it provides a clear visual of royal jelly in a 'queen chamber' with its designated larvae. The captions accurately represent the images however, I would recommend listing the exact species of honey bee and the location in which the photo taken. The images embedded in this article all abide to Wikipedia's copyright regulations.

Talk page discussion

The talk page discussion section were mostly written from the perspective of experienced beekeepers and they left comments on their input on how artificial royal jelly may led to potential adverse effects on honey bees. The article is rated as C-class, low importance and is part of the WikiProjects: agriculture/breeding, Alternative medicine, and dietary supplements.

Overall impressions

To sum up, I think the strongest points of the article is the simplicity and concise delivery of content. However, most of the information in this article does not provide sufficient details on the biological significance of royal jelly and the mechanistic studies surrounding it. It is recommended for this article to include relevant research articles on the effects of royal jelly in caste differentiation and its evolutionary significance. The section of alternative medicine and dietary impacts in human needs more evidence and citations to support it.