User:Madisonrockw18/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Beignet

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose to evaluate this article because it is a start-class article that relates to my interest in food culture. It is important because this type of food is a relevant in several food cultures around the world, and it is also a lesser-known food item. My preliminary impression of the article was that it succeeds only at providing a very basic and at times unclear understanding of the pastry. The image displayed in the lead is different than the image that comes to mind when I imagine a beignet, and it fails to accurately represent what a beignet is.

Lead section

 * The lead is concise but slightly unclear. The phrase “may also be made from other types of dough, including yeast dough” is slightly distracting to the reader and draws away from what the item essentially is.
 * Does the lead include a brief description of the article's major sections? The lead does briefly describe what the article sections are, however topics discussed in the lead like “French, Italian, and French-American cuisines” are not discussed in the article.
 * The lead is concise, but includes unnecessary and distracting detail.

Content

 * The content included is mostly relevant to the topic.
 * The content is up-to-date but is missing more recent cultural applications to the beignet.
 * Content that is missing includes accurate preparation information, origins, and beignets around the world
 * Article does not reference equity gaps

Tone and Balance

 * The article is natural and does not attempt to persuade the audience in any way
 * Tone could be adjusted to be less causal and more academic sounding
 * Information from sources is presented in an unbiased way

Sources and References
A Wikipedia article should be based on the best sources available for the topic at hand. When possible, this means academic and peer-reviewed publications or scholarly books.


 * The facts under “Types” are not all backed up by reliable sources.
 * The sources that are present are thorough and represent the range of information that exists about the topic.
 * Most of the sources are current, however one source is cited as a newspaper article from 1907. The link also does not go directly to the cited source, but rather to the Wikipedia page about the newspaper column itself.
 * The sources are from a diverse range of authors, however, more perspectives could be included.
 * There is literature available to replace the newspaper article cited.
 * The links to sources are functional.

Organization and writing quality

 * The article is concise and clear, but language could be improved to be more professional.
 * The article contains a few grammatical errors.
 * The article organization could be improved. “Origins” should be added as a subject rather than having the discussion on origins be dispersed throughout.

Images and Media

 * Images are included, however the image that is presented in the lead could be changed to represent a more popular type of beignet.
 * Image captions should be more detailed, better explain the type of beignet, and better describe the process of making beignets.
 * Images appear to adhere to Wikipedia Copyright regulations.
 * The images do not appear to be cohesive and could be more visually appealing.

Talk page discussion

 * The origins of beignets have been highly discussed on the talk page, and there seems to be confusion on what the exact origin is.
 * The talk page also discusses how “the first image looks more like a hash brown and isn’t the typical kind of beignet”, which is something I would also suggest improving.
 * The article is rated Start-class. It is of interest in the France, Louisiana/New Orleans, and Food and drink WikiProjects.

Overall impressions

 * The article is underdeveloped and needs a moderate to heavy amount of improvement.
 * Article is strong in providing a basic understanding of what the pastry is.
 * Article could be improved by better organization, media, and a more clear discussion of the beignet’s origins and preparation.