User:Monicathomson/sandbox

Article Evaluation

Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?

The article has a tendency to explain each topic very thoroughly. The article is on the population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, yet it discusses in considerable detail each event that caused the changings of the population. For example, rather than explain what effect disease had on the population of the Americas, the article lists all of the different diseases that were present at the time. It also compares the loss of life of the indigenous population to the black death in Europe, which is not relevant to the topic. For the most part though, the article does stay on topic.

•Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?

The viewpoints of native Americans are not often mentioned in the article, however, there are a few cases where the author of the article gives the opinions of the Europeans from the time period. Although this could be a result of the information that is available, there seems to be a larger European outlook on the topic.

•Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article? • 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?

There are many generalizations made saying things such as "almost all historians agree..." but does not prove that with sources. Likewise it is not explained what the other historians think on the subject. Additionally, as stated above many quotes are missing proper references. Many of the sources appear to be proper scholarly sources. None if any of the sources provide links to the texts used, so it is not possible to check the validity of the sources without the book cited.

Many of the citations are missing information. They do not provide a link or any hint as to where their information is coming from or what links they are using. This lack of sourcing occurs multiple times through the article.

•Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?

There is no clear timeline of what the population resembled, the article focused more on why the population to changed and ignored how the numbers changed. It would have been helpful to have a timeline with an estimation of the population in order to better understand the fluctuating population.

• 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?

Many of the people on the Talk page have commented on the sources that have been used, saying that they are unreliable and biased. Further, they agree that many quotes are missing proper sources. All of the talk appears to be critiquing the article in some way or another, there is no positive feedback, only negative.

•How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?

I am not aware that either of these are present in this article

•How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

This article does not offer numbers in the same way that was offered in class. It is very broad and does not follow a clear timeline the way class aspires to. It also does not follow a clear pattern, the information is very sporadic and sometimes difficult to follow.

Adding To an article.

I added to the Article on Hayter Reed. I added more specific information on how Reed hindered indigenous peoples from succeeding agriculturally. I did this as it was stated by a previous person that Reed hindered the indigenous community from successfully farming, but did not state how he did it. Further, my comment does suggest why he hindered the native communities, by stating that he made a racist policy, it is understood that he was racist to non-whites in the area.

For February 8th Monica and Callie

Robert Semple article

There is no information on semples background in the article other than where/when he was born and died The article mentions that Semple was governor of the Hudson's bay company. We need to establish what changes and contributions he made during his time as governor to the hudson's bay company. Did he make any significant changes or do anything notable in his year as governor?
 * Who were his parents?
 * What was his childhood like?
 * What was his education?
 * Any notable jobs/positions/roles before becoming governor?
 * How/why did Semple receive his job as governor?
 * How/why did Semple and Selkirk come into contact?

What was his role in the battle of the seven oaks? Selkirk is mentioned in the article, but there is no information on whether the two of them had any relationship other than Selkirk giving Semple his title as governor.
 * How did his temper cause the battle to escalate?
 * What were some of the decisions he made during the battle?
 * What were the consequences of Semples death?
 * Did his death have an effect on the company?
 * What is his legacy?

The information that is currently listed is not properly sourced, we will have to ensure that we are able to confirm the information that is there, and then provide sources to the information.

There are also some grammatical errors (such as commas in the wrong places) and awkwardly phrased sentences that could be improved. The word “born” is also missing at the beginning of the article.

The article is also lacking many details to make it as informative as it should be, no specifics about when he was governor, it simply states autumn. It does not give any background information on the North West Company or even Hudson’s Bay Company and their feud. Which is quite integral, even if a minor section, as it is part of the reason they were engaged in the massacre.