User:Lkd36/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: "Liberal Arts Education"
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate: I chose this article to evaluate because it was in one of the many categories that we could choose from and since we are receiving a liberal arts education, it seemed interesting to see what wikipedia had on this subject.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic? Yes, the first sentence is a good description of what a Liberal arts education actually is and where the word originates from.
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections? Yes, after the first two sentences, there is a description of the central disciplines, all of which are the major sections of the entire article.
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article? Yes, at the end of the lead paragraph there is a statement regarding the differences between what is a liberal arts education is and how it is different from other forms. However, this is not mentioned in the rest of the entirety of the article.
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed? I think it is detailed to the extent that it gives an overview of what the article will continue to be about and but also lays out some interesting facts that might attract the attention of the reader.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic? Yes, there are about 8 major contents, all of which relate to the topic in one way or another.
 * Is the content up-to-date? I think there is general information that is up-to-date, but there could be more recent evidence, especially in "In the United States" content. Also, there are no citations in the Great Books Movement section and Secondary School section at all.
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong? It is a bit unclear why Australia is included in the contents. It makes sense that Europe, Asia, and the United States is being mentioned, but Australia seems randomly thrown in.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral? Yes, the article stays neutral throughout.
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? No, the information is not biased but rather informative.
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? I think most of the information is represented well, but perhaps there needs to be a section with more recent information around liberal arts education and universities who still participate in giving them.
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another? No, the article is very neutral and does not offer any positions.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information? No, the section of secondary schools and the great books movement does include any citations.
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic? The other sources that are mentioned do seem thorough.
 * Are the sources current? The sources could be more current because most of them are before the 2000s or early 2000s.
 * Check a few links. Do they work? Yes, the links work.

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read? Yes.
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors? None that I noticed.
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic? Yes, there are 8 sections with a section dedicated for further readings.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic? There aren't too many images, but the few that are present do help understand the topic.
 * Are images well-captioned? Yes, I am able to tell what the images are referring to.
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations? I believe so.
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?Yes, they are near the text that they refer to.

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? According to the conversations on the talk page, there needs to be more recent evidence for liberal arts education around the globe, especially in the UK. Since the article was written, much more recent information has become forward and it seems like the article is outdated.
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? It is rated as C-Class and it is of interest to the WikiProject Literature, Mathematics, Philosophy, Science, and Universities.
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? I don't think we have talked about liberal arts education this broadly in class.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status? It seems as if the article is well written but very outdated.
 * What are the article's strengths? The article does incorporate history into the article and offers a full background of this type of education.
 * How can the article be improved? It can be improved with more recent information and evidence, as well as more perspective on how a liberal arts education is in today's world.
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed? I think it is a bit underdeveloped because of the lack of evidence in two sections and because of the fact that it needs more recent perspectives.

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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