User:Megan.ruffin1/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: Propaganda
 * I chose to evaluate this article about propaganda because I find the topic to be interesting from a communication, political, and historical aspect.

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
This article introduces the subject clearly by providing a detailed definition that summarizes propaganda. The lead does include some description for the articles major sections and could benefit from adding a lead summary that includes more overview of the information that is presented in the major sections. I believe the lead is detailed but does not lay out the structure of the information that will be found in the rest of the article concisely.

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?

Content evaluation
The article's content is relevant and provides details on the history, function, and different aspects of the subject of propaganda. It also includes detailed information on various formats and historical examples of propaganda. I do not believe there is content that does not belong but there could be more detail however there are some sections that link to its own page to provide a deeper dive, such as the history section of this "Propaganda" page has a link to another main page called "History of Propaganda". The section titled "Children" has a banner stating that more citations needed for verification.

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
I believe for the most part this article maintains a neutral tone. There are examples provided in order to better explain historical instances but I do not see if biased towards a particular position on these rather just providing the information. I do not think the author is swaying or attempting to persuade a position. There are areas of information that could be more represented especially in the communication and political sections of propaganda.

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?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation
The article has many sources and was last updated today as of the writing of this evaluation. The sources reflect relevant information and examinations of many aspects of this subject. More sources were current or provided in the last few years however there are some sources that are older such as one from 1929 but there are historical reference and subject within the article that this source may be relevant to pull from. I did check a few of the links and the ones tested work. However, he section titled "Children" has a banner stating that more citations needed for verification.

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 seem to be well written and appears to have a lot of sources of supporting information. I did not notice any grammatical errors when reading through the article. I would say that the articles organization could be better. The major topics and overall flow of the information surrounding the topic could be laid out in a way that the information flowed more naturally between major topics.

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 article does contain quite a few images to provide examples and enhance the information on the article. From what I checked the photos are all provided adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations. The images are laid out to match the section it supports but some images could be larger.

Checking the talk pages

 * 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
There are a lot of interesting things being brought up on the talk page such as people asking why certain scholars of the subject are not included or stating why they believe certain information is incorrect. The article is a level-4 vital article in society and is rated as a C-class article.

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
The article overall is recognized and has been features on the main page information. It is listed as a highly important subject for society and is involved in many different Wikiproject groups. The strengths are that the article presents a lot of information and provides a large catalog of sources that it has pulled this information from. It can be improved by ensuring that it stays up to date and includes scholarly theory on the subject of the communication aspect of propaganda.

Optional activity

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