User:Msdemure/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Zuko

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article on Zuko from Avatar: the Last Airbender because it is a C-level article that needs some work and editing and also because it is a topic I am interested in.

Evaluate the article
Lead section Evaluation:

The first sentence of the article starts with a concise statement about who Zuko is, but then goes on to list his voice actors (which is already listed in the side text box under "Voiced by"). For the sake of the reader, the first sentence should be more to the point. The lead section in general does a decent job of summarizing the topic, however there could be some editing done in its grammar and general conciseness. This section does not outline explicitly the later sections of the article.

Content Evaluation:

Under "Creation and conception": As noted by Wikipedia, this section is too short compared to the rest of the wiki article.

Under "Characterization": In the "Personality" section of the page, the original author writes more about the history of the show and Zuko's abilities, not actually about him as a character. Again in the "Firebending" section, the author talks about the general history of firebending in the show, not about Zuko's own ability to firebend. Thus, to keep the article on topic, the author should narrow these subjects down to how they relate to Zuko specifically, not the show in general.

Tone and Balance Evaluation:

Overall, the article is written in a neutral factual manner. The "Critical reception" section could be expanded upon to include more thoughts about the character, Zuko, than his redemption arc (and as well perhaps some neutral or negative comments about the redemption arc to balance out the positive).

Sources and References Evaluation:

Reference 9's link no longer leads to an actual page on the Nickelodeon site. A number of sources are from IGN and other blog-like sources, so perhaps the author could use the original Avatar series as a source and simply sum up information found in the show/comics. As well, the author cites certain episodes, however, I believe it would be best if they cited the show in general since Zuko appears in most of the episodes anyway.

Organization and Writing Quality Evaluation:

I think the "Appearances" section of the article is organized well, with the subcategories being different volumes of the shows, however, for the sake of not listing out events in larger paragraphs and for clarity on which appearance happens when, I think the author should break down each volume into appearances by episode within the larger volume section. I think there could also be a background information section so that the author has a place to add the history behind Zuko's motives, family, etc instead of within places it doesn't necessarily fit into (like personality).

The sentence structure/use of commas should be improved since many of the author's sentences are quite long when they can be separated by commas or periods. Sometimes the word choice is awkward, so a proofread of the article and making the sentences clearer, I believe, would improve the overall legibility.

Images and Media Evaluation:

I could not find the image of Zuko at the top of the article easily on Wikimedia Commons, so I will assume it is not within that database and thus is not copyright safe. Therefore, the author should try to find a picture of Zuko on the Wikimedia Commons to definitely avoid copyright issues. The article lacks in pictures of Zuko, his belongings, and history, so adding more pictures would help the reader understand Zuko as a character within the Avatar series considerably more. The picture of Zuko's voice actor is at the end of the article where he himself is not really mentioned. The placement of that picture, if needed, should be near the top where Zuko's voice actors are listed.

Talk page discussion Evaluation:

This article is given a "C" and is in three WikiProjects: "Animation/American", "Television/Avatar/Nickelodeon", and "Fictional characters". There appears to be no discussions by authors/editors on the talk page. WIkipedia states the article can be improved upon by adding to it so that it can be renominated for a good article.

Overall impressions:

Overall, the article has some of the basics down, but fails to inform the reader about Zuko. The author goes more into Avatar: the Last Airbender than Zuko, as a character, alone. Readers can go to the Avatar wiki page if they want its brief history and plot, so there is no need to put that into the Zuko article. The author's strength is that the lead section starts off pretty well. A weakness is the organization and the lack of staying on topic to Zuko himself and not the show in general.