User:Megan.Spitzer/sandbox

Article Evaluation


 * Complete the "Evaluating Articles and Sources" training (linked below).
 * Create a section in your sandbox titled "Article evaluation" where you'll leave notes about your observations and learnings.
 * Choose an article on Wikipedia related to your course to read and evaluate. As you read, consider the following questions (but don't feel limited to these):

Weddell seal


 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
 * Yes, everything was relevant and nothing was distracting.
 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Everything is very neutral and sticks with a factual manor.
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * There are no overrepresented viewpoints. There is quite a focus on behavioural characteristics, but not in any opinionated way.
 * Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
 * Not only are they many sources with working links, but the claims are also all supported.
 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * Yes, all facts have reliable references that are mainly neutral, peer-reviewed sources.
 * Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
 * All of the information is fairly up date, but there is a mixture of older and more current sources. The only section that seems lacking is the "Taxonomy and evolution" section.
 * Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * There isn't much in the Talk page except to explain how Weddell seal should be typed (uppercase vs lowercase seal) which really isn't that important for this article. So really there isn't any actual discussion happening.
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * The article is rated start-class on quality and low on importance within the WikiProject Mammals. It is also part of the WikiProject Antartica but has no ratings.
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
 * It is very comparable to how it is discussed it class. We focused on all the same things: physical traits, behaviour like breeding, diving, vocalizing, diet. We just didn't go into as much detail.

Improving an existing article?


 * Identify what's missing from the current form of the article. Think back to the skills you learned while critiquing an article. Make notes for improvement in your sandbox.
 * I don't really like the overall outline and subtitles for the current South Asian River Dolphin Section.
 * Make changes to reflect an outline similar to Weddell Seal: Taxonomy, Evolution, Diet, Conservation, Behaviour: Breeding, Hunting, Vocalization, Social Interactions
 * Overall, there is a lot of information missing about behaviour. Also, there can be more information about its diet, it environment, and conservation.

Peer Review: Weddell seal

Overall, it is a pretty good article. Like stated earlier, I really like how everything is sectioned off. The only parts that are lacking are "taxonomy and evolution" where I believe that there could be more information on the skull, skin, life cycle, and perhaps evolution. The best section is definitely the behaviour section and I appreciate how much information there is about diving, breeding, and vocalization. It could be nice to have more information on its environment and interactions with other animals.

Article: For Southern Asian River Dolphins
Edited onto article:

Vocalization
Since its environment is heavily impacted by pollution and consistently heavily murky, echolocation was echolocation was utilized as they main form for hunting. Echolocation is actually utilized for population counts by using acoustic surveying. This method is still being developed and is not heavily utilized due to cost and technical skill requirement. Being part of the Order Platanistidae, they have evolved without the ability to whistle but still utilizes vocalization for communication and social interaction. However there is limited information on how extensively vocalization is utilized between individuals.