User:Methyliodide/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Epigenetics of schizophrenia

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
(Briefly explain why you chose it, why it matters, and what your preliminary impression of it was.)

I chose this article to evaluate because I think schizophrenia is a mental disorder that is often misunderstood. The exact causes are unknown and the disorder can severely decrease quality of life if not managed properly. For this reason, I think understanding the epigenetics of schizophrenia can teach us more about how to treat it. My preliminary impression of the article is that it looks pretty comprehensive and all the main topics seem to be touched on.

Evaluate the article
(Compose a detailed evaluation of the article here, considering each of the key aspects listed above. Consider the guiding questions, and check out the examples of what a useful Wikipedia article evaluation looks like.)

The lead section is clear and concise, first defining what “epigenetics of schizophrenia” is, then briefly explaining why it is important or relevant. The table of contents makes it easy to see what kind of information the article contains. It is not overly detailed, and it leaves all major topics for the body paragraphs. The article’s content is relevant to the topic. Based on the references, the content is up-to-date (almost all references were published in the early 2000s or even as recent as within the last decade). The content is appropriate and it’s nice that a “Research limitations” section is included, as it puts into perspective the research that has been done. Schizophrenia by itself is poorly understood, and it is one of the mental disorders that are less discussed due to it affecting a much smaller percentage of people compared to illnesses like depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, etc. In that manner, the article does point out the importance of studying and understanding schizophrenia. The article remains consistently neutral throughout, with an unbiased and factual tone. While the article cites peer-reviewed publications, only one reference (out of sixteen) is a review, and that review was published in 2008. The sources are accessible, reflect the available literature and are written by a diverse spectrum of authors, but there are more recent reviews that could be taken into consideration.

The writing is clear and professional, and very easy to read. It is broken down into easily digestible sections that communicate the information effectively. The article includes one image of the mechanism of epigenetics (also shown in several other epigenetics wiki articles). It is very general and doesn’t really seem to assist in communicating the point of the article.