User:M. Abe 2727/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.


 * History of colonialism: (History of colonialism)
 * This article is closely related to our class, which revolves around European Imperialism. As such, that means that we frequently study colonization.

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 for this article is not particularly strong, as it is somewhat distracting from the article. For example, it mentions the Phoenicians, the ancient Greeks, and the crusaders as early colonizers and never mentions them again. Additionally, it is not particularly concise and tends to gloss over some parts of the article while overemphasizing other parts. For example, it does not mention India in the Lead despite discussing colonies of several different nations based there. Finally, the Lead and the article seem to overemphasize the effect of the Spanish and Portuguese while leaving the other European countries as almost an afterthought.

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

Content evaluation
The content does not have much in the way of detail, mainly giving general statements without attempting to go into any depth on methods, people, or even areas except for India and some of the Portuguese and Spanish exploration. Additionally, there is very little information about any form of non-European colonization.

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 appears to be fairly neutral, although it does not seem to have too many exact details about the specific colonies and the areas where they were.

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?
 * Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation
Several of its sources are either newspaper articles or are locked behind books that have to be purchased. Other sources are not online and no links have been provided, so I am unsure of them. There are, however, many different sources, although again I am unsre of their accuracy.

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 does not seem well balanced, with large portions dedicated to Portuguese and Spanish exploration while other European colonizers such as Britain, France, and Belgium are less prominent. Additionally, there is very little mention of Asian imperialism beyond a small section on India and a few sentences on any other Asian colonies, with little evidence to backup the non-Indian sections. As for organization, it is somewhat scattered. While it mentions a three wave colonization, it does not group the article around those ideas and only mentions them one more time, making it unneeded information. Instead, it roughly groups it loosely around nations and time, but does not provide enough additional information to explain the different sections.

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 images, while a bit repetitive, seem to be in line with the article's topic and are well related to the subject.

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
This article is a C-Class article, listed as of importance to six WikiProjects, one of which is inactive. The conversations around it are mostly inactive, with very little conversation occurring throughout the article's history. That seems unusual considering the article's importance.

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
All in all, this article does not do much to describe the history of colonialism. It has poor organization and is not well detailed, leaving large amounts of material only hinted at. Additionally, many of the sources do not have links, making it difficult to research them online and see their connection to the article.

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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