User:Kissinger458/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: Secret handshake
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.
 * This article deals with secret handshake(s) in society. This includes groups or organization that use these handshakes as a means of knowing members or other significance.I have chosen this article because of the use of a single source for the entire article that could be expanded to other uses in organizations and society.

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 in the article Secret handshake discusses the use of these handshakes in groups or between elected officials. The Lead's introductory sentence does refer to the use of these handshakes in groups that describes what the handshakes meaning is for. The use of these handshakes is described in the introductory paragraph. The Lead does not provide information for the two main sections of the article. The Lead focuses on the use of secret handshakes in secret societies, but only provides The Freemason Society as this organization. The major sections in the article are Historical uses and Modern uses, but only provides a single source for historical and none for modern use.

The Lead talks of use in fraternal orders and college fraternities, but only provides a single source for The Freemason Society. The Lead also describes the use of handshakes "A secret handshake can also be a useful form of familiar interaction between friends, colleagues, and family members." This could be a useful major point to expand upon, but is not in the major sections provided. The lead is concise, but it has information that is not further explained in the article itself.

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?

Content evaluation
The articles content is relevant to the use of secret handshakes in organizations and young people, but only provides a single source for The Freemason Society.In the historical usage content the quote, "However, Biblical records also show evidence of secret greetings or handshakes. Although not a technical handshake, the account in the Gospel of John of the kiss of Judas, by which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, can be viewed as a form of secret greeting." has nothing to do with secret handshakes as it has to do with a greeting in a biblical story. This quote and summary doesn't provide a source. The Content in the article is out of date since it provides no sources or content to do with secret handshakes in modern society.

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 somewhat neutral in providing information about secret handshakes. In the modern use section the author says "The usage of secret handshakes in modern society is much more informal compared to the historical usage of secret handshakes.", but provides no sourcing or information as to why these handshakes are "much more informal". The author also tries to convey a bias by saying, "...a secret handshake would have a more formal, serious tone, today, secret handshakes are shared by mostly people in grade school who share a friendship type relational bond with one another." The author fails to provide a source or reasoning for this opinion, and fails to remain neutral on the use of secret handshakes in modern usage. The use of "more formal" without context as to why it would be more formal historically is a mistake.

The entire modern usage part of the article is lacking in sourcing for the opinions that the author provides. The one source for the entire article is use of secret handshakes in Masonic Society, but is only a paragraph for the article itself. There could be more sources that provide insight as to why and how these handshakes are used in modern society. There could be more sources for the historical uses instead of providing a single source for just one fraternal organization.

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 sourcing for the article Secret handshake is severely lacking and fails to provide sources for the information provided. The only source provided is, "http://www.ephesians5-11.org/handshakes.htm". This source is a simple website that provides no scholarly secondary sourcing. The source in this article provides some information on the handshakes of Masonic Orders, but it does not provide and scholarly sources to back its claims. This website is also an out of date website that could easily be edited to provide false information. This article is severely flawed due to the only source provided being on Masonic Handshakes, and providing no sources for modern usage or even other historical uses.

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 concise in the sense of being short and sticking to two main points of Historical and Modern uses of secret handshakes. The information provided however is not organized well for the reader to be able to understand the use of these handshakes. In the Modern Usage section, the author provides information for the use of handshakes in modern society, but doesn't provide sourcing or any way to back up what the author is conveying. In the Lead part of the article, the author talks of use of these handshakes, " in the popular consciousness with college fraternities, fraternal orders and secret societies.", but does not expand on the use of secret handshakes in these topics. The only organization that is talked of is the Masonic Order, and even then only talks of, "The Freemasons have at least 12 known universal secret handshakes that were implemented in their society."

The articles sentence structure uses small sentences, and the use of too many commas for sentences. An example is the sentence, "Where historically, a secret handshake would have a more formal, serious tone, today, secret handshakes are...". This sentence has too many commas and is difficult for the reader to follow.

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 only contains one image in its entirety. The image is a mural, "... by which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus...", and this mural is in reference to a "kiss". This picture has nothing to do with secret handshakes, and vaguely references a secret greeting. The image is captioned correctly, but does not provide information for a secret handshake. The image is public domain, so it does not violate copyright regulations given for Wikipedia. The image would be beneficial for an article about secret greetings, but does not provide anything useful for secret handshakes.

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
In the Talk Page, users are critical of the article itself. One user said, "Needs examples, pictures, diagrams, of actual secret society handshakes! --Treekids (talk) 20:01, 11 July 2011 (UTC)". The article itself needs to be rewritten to provide examples and to expand on secret handshake in organizations and society. This article is not rated and is not a part of and WikiProjects. The talk page is informal in the way users are talking about the article itself.

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 Secret handshake is a poorly written article compared to many articles on Wikipedia. The article's content fails to expand on the content in the Lead paragraph. The article relies heavily on an outdated website that provides no scholarly sources. The article at best is a rough draft for someone to expand on the uses of secret handshakes, and could be properly revitalized if sources and examples were provided. The article is also very short in comparison to articles that have fully expanded on the content provided. The media and and reference to the biblical kiss should be removed as they have nothing to do with secret handshakes.

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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