User:Mg7520/sandbox

FIRST DRAFT OF ARTICLE IS FOUND HERE: User:Mg7520/Abnormal behaviour of birds in captivity

Week 6 Assignment (Outline of Article)

The article I will be making a contribution to for my Wikipedia assignment is Abnormal behaviour of birds in captivity.

I plan to research and add additional and more in-depth information to the topics of feather and toe pecking, cannibalism in poultry, social deprivation, stereotypy, as well as animal psychopathology and lists of abnormal behaviour in birds. I aim to examine previous research with a motivation to explain antecedents, behaviours, and consequences of birds in captivity.

Article Evaluation (Edward Thorndike)

The Wiki article on Edward Thorndike conveys tremendous detail and insight into the life, career, and contributions of the American Psychologist. The content of the page is up-to-date and relevant, as well as easy-to-follow and comprehend. In my opinion, the section devoted to criticism [of Thorndike] could be improved upon and added to, as it is merely a few sentences with little detailing information. The tone of the article is largely neutral, with the exception of the weak criticism section which may suggest a slight bias due to the underrepresentation of Thorndike's criticisms and possible failures; however, the author does note Thorndike's misogynistic and pseudo-scientific views about the role of women in society. The citation links used provide the appropriate support needed for the claims and facts in the article, and most all are scholarly journals as well as books and writings written by Thorndike himself. Therefore, I deem the sources in this article as neutral, reliable references that are advantageously utilized by the author to convey appropriate factual information the subject of Edward Thorndike. The Talk Page of this article contains a few conversation starters but little actual conversing among users regarding the topics. For example, one user noted the importance of the addition of a section on "Thorndike on Education", and proceeded to provide their sandbox and reasoning for the additional information. Other users made modifications to a few external links as well as questioning whether or not it is appropriate or relevant to pair Thorndike with active learning. This article is listed as a level-4 vital article in People, and rated as C-class. The content discussed in this article is more detailed and encompasses a wider range of information than we have covered thus far in class, but of course consists of a plethora of overlapping information nonetheless.