User:LermonySnickers/Evaluate an Article

User:LermonySnickers/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Hourglass dolphin

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I think dolphins are cool and I hadn't heard of this kind before. They also look a little bit like mini orcas and I like orcas. I think this article matters because it helps bring attention to Antarctic wildlife that most people wouldn't know is out there swimming in our oceans. My first impressions are that the article has an appealing layout and the individual sections look succinct and undaunting to read.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section

The opening sentence is concise and states exactly what the article will be about. This lead section does not introduce what the following sections are or give a brief description of what information they will include. It introduces some information about how the hourglass dolphin was discovered that is not covered in subsequent sections. The section was almost maybe too concise, introducing the topic but not the article itself.

Content

The content remains relevant to the topic throughout. There is no deviation from information immediately pertaining to the hourglass dolphin. It appears to be up to date. Entries on the talk page are old but there are numerous edits to the article from the past year, though most were copyedits/code fixes. There are a couple of interesting sentences in the lead section about how the hourglass dolphin was identified as a species that could be expanded upon in a new section if that information is available. This article doesn't deal with any equity gaps.

Tone and Balance

The article maintains a neutral tone throughout. There aren't really any claims made or viewpoints expressed, it's just dolphin facts. Nothing in the article is persuasive. The only lack of balance comes from gaps in what is known about hourglass dolphins due to the fact that they haven't been widely studied.

Sources and References

There are a wide array of sources which are heavily cited within the article. The most recent source is from 2019 and the oldest ones are from the 90's. Not much study has been done on hourglass dolphins, so there's not a lot of research to pull from. This article does a good job of compiling the information that is out there. This means that the authors can only be as diverse as the available research allows them to be. All of the references are from academic sources or reputable wildlife organizations with functional links.

Organization and Writing Quality

This article is well written, clear, and concise. I didn't notice any spelling or grammatical errors while reading it (my screen reading software didn't stumble over anything, at least). It is well organized into sections that make sense and are easy to follow.

Images and Media

The images present in the article are useful for enhancing understanding. One gives the size comparison of an hourglass dolphin to a human, which is helpful for people who struggle to conceptualize size from numerical values. All of the images have captions to explain them and I see nothing that indicates the images violate Wikipedia's copyright policies. The page is very visually appealing, which is part of why I chose the article.

Talk Page Discussion

There's not much on the talk page with the latest topic being from 2021 and talking about discourse around the genus of the hourglass dolphin. This article is part of the Cetaceans WikiProject and is rated C-class. There are few topics on the talk page and no replies to them, which indicates that users are making edits without engaging in any discussion about these changes.

Overall Impressions

This is a pretty well pulled together C-class article. It has a great layout and good organization within the sections. More attention could be given to how this species of dolphin was discovered since this is briefly referenced in the lead section, but not expanded upon. Wikipedians should be on the lookout for new information about hourglass dolphins as they get studied more and update the article accordingly.