User:Mhayko11/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating
Benson, Nebraska - Wikipedia

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I have chosen this article because Benson Nebraska (a neighborhood in the city of Omaha) has recently been named an official creative district in Omaha. Benson is a key asset in the art communities in Omaha and that should be reflected in its wikipedia page. It is also a thriving culturally significant neighborhood that welcomes all and promotes art exhibitions monthly.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section Evalutation

There is a lead sentence, and it does clearly define the topic of the article. However, the lead section is almost too brief and the two sentences that it does have in it do not seem to necessarily relate to one another. Even though the lead is concise it does not mention the sections that will be talked about in the article, and it includes information not even mentioned in the article. For example, the second sentence in the lead mentions the actor Nick Nolte and does not go into depth on this topic later in the article. It is a distracting second sentence, and it is a fact that just does not need to be present there.

Content Evaluation

While the content is relevant to the article it is not up to date. If someone wants to learn about the Benson Neighborhood from a historic viewpoint this would be a great concise article. But there has been so much change in the Benson area that I feel as though this article does not reflect the current happy and colorful mood of Benson that it is today. There seems to be a lot of content that is missing, everything seems relevant to some extent, but it also feels lackluster just stating small facts and not going into depth on the history.

Tone and Balance Evaluation

The article is very neutral and gives a historical perspective on the neighborhood. This seems to be the only perspective, which is not a bad one and it is an important one to include but there is nothing stated about how much Benson is involved in the arts and the perspectives of the artists and communities who live and work there. Adding some current perspectives on Benson would be helpful and give the article more context to what the Benson neighborhood is currently like.

Sources and References Evaluation

Everything seems to be backed up by secondary sources, but the sources are not diverse or extensive. The entire article includes six sources, and for the length that the article currently is that amount seems appropriate. There only seems to be one current source from 2020 other sources are slightly more dated. Historical society sources and local Omaha news sources are used which is beneficial for sticking to local information. However, the sources could be more diverse and more current to reflect all the available information on the Benson Neighborhood. After clicking through the cited sources, the majority of them do not take the user to the source that is state, or the source no longer exists. This is problematic because now there is information up on this article that is not being accounted for. For this subject matter news articles and websites will probably have to be the main bulk of the sources but there are plenty of peer reviewed articles and books on Nebraska history that could be included in the article.

Organization and Writing Quality Evaluation

The article is broken down into sections and is concise. Doesn't seem to have and noticeable spelling or grammatical errors. However, it could be organized better and include more sections about the neighborhood aside from just history. I also mentioned earlier that there seem to be random facts scattered throughout that do not necessarily have context.

Images and Media Evaluation

All of the images seem to adhere to copyright regulations and one of the images has a caption. The other is a map image of Nebraska, and it may be nice to add a caption to that one for those who are not familiar with what the state looks like. These images do not enhance the article the way it could be enhanced with images. I think the map image is important for location purposes but the other picture that just shows a section of the Benson Neighborhood (which is outdated) does not give a full picture of the goings-on in the neighborhood. it would be helpful to include more photos and possibly seasonal photos too showcase some of the unique annual events the neighborhood puts on. The photos are also off to the side of the article, and they are small which makes them easy to glance over and ignore.

Talk Page Discussion Evaluation

There does not seem to be any current conversations occurring on this talk page. A few changes were made, adding a source here, changing verbiage there, nothing of high significance. The article has been rated as stub class and of low importance to the projects it is a part of: WikiProject Nebraska, WikiProject National Register of Historic Places, and WikiProject United States. When it comes to places of historic significance, I believe in class we seem to talk about them in high regards and we talk about how we can respect as well as showcase historical works. Whereas wikipedia seems rather dismissive about it by giving topics like these a low importance rating.

Overall Impressions

I think the one strength of this article would be its mention of the history of the neighborhood, but it could still go further with the history it has mentioned. I also like that they used Nebraska Historical Society sources and I think this could be expanded upon when editing the article. I think the article could be improved by adding better visuals and more sections like: Creative district, cultures represented, galleries, BFF events, Summer events, Small businesses, current controversies (parking meters), etc. There is just so much being left out here and I believe this article is underdeveloped and has the potential to be so much more!