User:Kardon99/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article

 * Link to article: Voyages of Christopher Columbus
 * I chose to evaluate this article because I have always heard conflicting narratives regarding Christopher Columbus. On one hand, I was taught in lower schools that Columbus was responsible for founding America. And on the other, I learned Columbus was responsible for great suffering experienced by Native Americans. I also recently learned about the initiative to shift Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day, which I find greatly intriguing. Ultimately, I find this topic interesting and likely in need of a critical evaluation.

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 does a sufficient job introducing and describing the article's topic. While there is no description of the article's major sections, there is an extensive table of contents to guide the reader through the article. Further, the information in the Lead is present in other parts of the article. The Lead itself is relatively detailed but nothing runs on or seems irrelevant.

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?
 * Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics?

Content evaluation
The article's context is almost entirely relevant to the topic. In one instance, however, it points out a phenomenon, magnetic declination, that Columbus had no role in discovering but rather just observed. This was a relatively minor distraction. The content itself was mostly up-to-date. I would only point out that there is no mention of the current contention on Columbus Day. However, that is not necessarily relevant to the voyages of Christopher Columbus the same way it is to Columbus himself. There was certainly information missing on Native Americans encountered on Columbus's voyages. Thus, I believe the article deals with a historical Wikipedia equity gap that is fails to adequately address.

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 written from a neutral position as there are no claims that appear biased towards a particular position. That said, there is certainly a content gap pertaining to the Native American presence that could lead readers to have a myopic point of view. Thus, the European colonialist viewpoints are certainly overrepresented in this article. Again, while the article does not seem to persuade readers in favor of one position, it leaves out information necessary to shape a fair opinion on the indigenous presence.

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?
 * Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation
Most facts in this article are sufficiently backed up by reliable secondary sources of information. The sources themselves are thorough and represent a wide variety of the literature available on the Voyages of Christopher Columbus. While some sources are fairly recent (published in last 10 years), several date back a few decades. The sources are not written by a diverse spectrum of authors. Most authors appear to be American historians that are not historically marginalized. All of links checked worked sufficiently.

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 easy to follow. The content is well-organized as Columbus's four voyages and other experiences are described in chronological order. The information presented is both clear and concise and provides a good scope of information pertaining to the voyages—despite the lack of focus on native populations. No grammatical or spellings errors were detected.

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 several images that enhance the understanding of the topic, ranging from maps of Columbus's voyages to visual depictions of Columbus's ships. The images are all well-captioned and in adherence to Wikipedia's copyright regulations. The images themselves are integrated nicely into the text and provide a visually appealing supplement to the reading.

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
There are a diverse array of conversations going on behind the scenes relating to the representation of this topic. The dialogue ranges from the right voyage maps to use all the way to interpretations of Columbus's personal log. The article is consistently rated B-class and in some cases is regarded with high-importance. Further, the article is a part of several WikiProjects, including WikiProject History. The Wikipedia discussions differ from the way we have talked about this topic in class by virtue of their greater focus on Columbus's voyages rather than the Natives American presence once Columbus arrived in America.

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
The article provides an overall good overview of Columbus's voyages overseas. The article's strengths include its comprehensive narrative of the four voyages, visually appealing supplemental images, wide variety of secondary sources, and use of Wiki links to other important topics throughout the article. The article can be improved in the way it depicts Native Americans. There is almost no mention of natives in America, and in the few instances where there is, Native Americans are depicted as violent and intolerant. Overall, I would say this is a mostly complete article. It certainly brought me up to speed on the voyages and discoveries of Christopher Columbus, and I was able to learn about several other important figures in the era, like Bartolomeu Dias. As aforementioned, there is a significant lack of information surrounding Native American encounters. I believe that in order for this article to receive higher ratings and provide the best scope of history, it must reconsider the way it depicts native peoples and allow space for discussing the disruption of their lifestyles and longstanding ties to the land.

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: Talk:Voyages of Christopher Columbus --> Natives only seen as warriors - problematic narrative