User:Mcm2001/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Brown Girl Dreaming

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
We read this book as one of our primary texts in class, and it is rated a start class article, so there are likely multiple areas of improvement.

Lead Section
It does contain a concise introductory sentence. It gives a brief summary of the plot of the book and mentions the awards the book has won, which cover the two subsections of the article. The lead is very concise and does not contain a lot of information or any information that is not included elsewhere in the article.

Content
There are two subsections of the article, one for the plot and the other for the awards. According to the general formatting for Wikipedia books, it is missing information on the analysis and critical reception of the book. It seems that the content is up to date in terms of awards, and the plot section would not have any additional updates that would be considered "up to date".

Tone and Balance
The article is written in a mostly neutral point of view, but there is a quote from the plot section of the novel that reads "there are white people in Greenville who are respectful and treat Jackie and her family like actual human beings, rather than dirt". With no textual citation, this could be the opinion of the author of the article coming through, specifically the phrase "rather than dirt". Additionally, the plot section seems to be unbalanced in mirroring the content of the actual book, and leaves out some key plot details that are important for its critical reception.

Tone and balance does not apply to the awards section of the article, since it is written in list format and contains hyperlinks to other Wikipedia articles.

Sources and References
There are no sources in the lead section or in the plot. The only sources are for the four awards the book has won, which come directly from the organizations that give out the awards or from articles covering the award. The links do work, but there are notable articles that are missing from the bibliography. For example, Flynn and Howard are two scholars that deal with the importance of verse in Brown Girl Dreaming, but the article has no information on any analysis.

Organization and Writing Quality
There are no grammatical or spelling errors, and the article is broken into two easy to follow sections, but the writing style is not particularly eloquent. The plot is written in a very simplistic tone.

Images and Media
The article includes one picture of the cover of the book. There are no pictures imbedded in the article, just the one picture in the side panel of the article. Thus, there is nothing to comment on regarding the captions or the integration of the photos.

Talk Page Discussion
There is no discussion on the talk page. It is a start class article. It relates to Children's Literature, of which it is mid-importance. It is part of the Novels WikiProjects, which is rated low-importance. Finally, it is a part of the women writers project, which it is also considered Mid-importance

Overall Impressions
This article has a lot that it can improve. Most importantly, the addition of an analysis and reception sections that draw on some of the scholastic work done on this book. That way, the list of sources could be bolstered and more images could be added. The plot section should also be reworked to give it a better balance and make it easier to read without any opinions of contributors clouding the content.