User:LEXIBAUM/Linguistics in the United States/Madisonfuchs Peer Review

General info

 * Whose work are you reviewing?

LEXIBAUM, Zjdoane, Grizziegin, Marissaowens


 * Link to draft you're reviewing
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:LEXIBAUM/Linguistics_in_the_United_States?veaction=edit&preload=Template%3ADashboard.wikiedu.org_draft_template
 * They sent me their Google Doc.


 * Link to the current version of the article (if it exists)
 * Linguistics in the United States

Lead
Has the Lead been updated to reflect the new content added by your peer?

Yes.

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?

Not at the moment.

Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?

No

Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?

It is concise.

Content
Is the content added relevant to the topic?

Yes

Is the content added up-to-date?

Yes

Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?

No

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

Not exactly, but it would be interesting to see information about different varieties of American English and how linguists receive that.

Tone and Balance
Is the content added neutral?

Yes

Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?

No

Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?

No

Does the content added attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?

No

Sources and References
Is all new content backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?

Appears so - couldn't access links the group provided but they're from UKY libraries.

'''Does the content accurately reflect what the cited sources say? (You'll need to refer to the sources to check this.)'''

^^ Unsure but the content aligns with what I know about linguistics in the US.

Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?

No

Are the sources current?

Yes

'''Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible?'''

Yes

'''Are there better sources available, such as peer-reviewed articles in place of news coverage or random websites? (You may need to do some digging to answer this.)'''

No

'''Check a few links. Do they work?'''

Yes

Organization
Is the content added well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?

Yes

Does the content added have any grammatical or spelling errors?

No

Is the content added well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?

Not really, I think the group needs to organize their individual work so that it all comes together more easily.

Images and Media
Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?

No

Are images well-captioned?

N/A

Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?

N/A

Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?

N/A

Overall impressions
This is a great start to the project so far! I wasn't sure how you were going to encompass all of American linguistics into one article, but it seems like you have a great start so far.

Here's a list of things I noticed/think you could improve:


 * For the LSA section, you could mention prominent members and their projects. People involved in LSA would probably have some important research they did that changed the field. Off the top of my head, you could see if Labov, Penelope Eckert, and Charles Pierce were in LSA
 * On that train of thought, you could cite linguists' work that influenced our understanding of linguistics today.
 * I'm unsure if a description of Whitney's activities prior to his professional career is relevant. This article could encompass so much information, so adding that he did a geographical survey is as important as linguistic theory.
 * For the section about "trying to find a standard for American linguistics," I would suggest changing the wording of that sentence. They were trying to understand language in the first place, like why American English is influenced by other languages and why American English is different than British English.
 * I think you'll find a lot of helpful information to add to the article if you search for American linguists and record what they studied. That'll construct a history of linguistics in the US.

There wasn't a lot of written additional content as far as I could tell, but the research seems substantial for the project. As far as research goes, I think finding more sources about American linguistic theory would be majorly beneficial. I'm not saying to read all the literature out there, but maybe you could find a summary of different aspects of American linguistics and apply those ideas to the narrative of your article. A section about what linguists are studying now would be interesting as well-I saw Lexi's blurb mentions how linguists are studying language inequality.

Overall, this is super cool so far and I like the direction it's going. Good luck!

Here are some linguistics buzzwords you can google to find more information.


 * sociolinguistics
 * semiotics
 * linguistic typology
 * historical linguistics (this could help with figuring out where American English came from)