User:KilianJones13/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: (link) Consumerism
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.

Seemed like a very basic and simple place to start that relates to our class

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic? YES
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections? YES
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article? NO
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed? Concise

Lead evaluation
The lead is concise and the opening sentence gives a short yet informative definition of consumerism. The rest of the lead gives a brief overview of the the contents of the article laying out history and the modern trend of consumerism.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic? YES
 * Is the content up-to-date? I do not have a large frame of reference for the up to date aspect of consumerism
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong? MAYBE

Content evaluation
In general, with my lack of knowledge on the subject of consumerism (which I hope will change), the content in this article seems accurate and up to date. However, it does include a rather in depth section on the criticism of consumerism, above which the message "This article's Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article's neutral point of view of the subject. Please integrate the section's contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. (July 2011)" is posted. This section does not seem overly biased, but its size and how in depth it goes when it has its own separate article, does seem to unbalance the page.

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
As mentioned above, the section on the criticism of Consumerism is not large then the rest of the article, but could be seen as over represented, adn the message that is pinned above that section advises that it should be rewritten or at least reformatted.

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?

Sources and references evaluation
The sources all seem to be secondary, and reliable based on my knowledge of the subject. The few links that I tried all worked without any issues.

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 as easy to read as any about consumerism to the untrained eye, and the breakdown of the topic into origins/history and the modern times with a separate section for how mass production has influenced the idea of consumerism is, in my opinion, a good organizational idea.

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 location of the images are not overly problematic, but I would say the choice of image is a little underwhelming. They all seem to be along the lines of shopping malls and shelves stocked with the same product. This does get across the idea of 21st century mass production and consumerism, but adding a few or at least one acknowledging the shift to digital shopping would be a welcome addition.

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
The latest two posts appear to be a bot that is modifying external links to keep them working. Beyound that, there is some discussion of removing references/citations to srouces that other authors could not find. Additionally, one Wikipedian asked that a clear distinction between consumerism and Economic materialism. This page is part of several wikiprojects, ranging from business and economics, to sociology and philosophy.

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
This article seems to be up to date and complete, with only the issues of formatting and a small amount of potential bias to contend with.

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: