User:Mswintosky/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article
This is where you will complete your article evaluation. Please use the template below to evaluate your selected article.


 * Name of article: Exocannibalism (link)
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate: I chose this topic as it relates to our discussion of the Wari people of South America who primarily eat individuals outside of their direct social groups, such as their enemies or non-blood relatives of their community. It not customary in their culture for blood relatives or "kin" to participate in the cannibalistic death practices of their culture.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?

Lead evaluation:
The lead includes a basic and straightforward definition of exocannibalism as well as the greek roots of the word. It is concise while including references to the subsequent sections of the article. There is more of a focus on one view of exocannibalism, that of aggression and warfare, than the other, that of gaining value and practicing respect of the consumed individual.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
 * Is the content up-to-date?
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?
 * Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics?

Content evaluation:
The content of the article is relevant and as up to date as it can be, given the fact that cannibalism in itself is not widely practiced in the world today as it has been in the past. The article is mostly referring to non-Western civilizations as that is mostly where this form of cannibalism has been observed, but it does briefly mention cannibalism in the American Southwest. This is the only culture referred to as alleged cannibalism, most likely because the thought of Americans consuming human flesh in our own backyard practically destroys the "we, them" conversation that brings us comfort when discussing unconventional cultural practices.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral?
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?

Tone and balance evaluation:
The article does not seem to show any bias other than the aforementioned framing of cannibalism in the American Southwest as alleged when practices in the other cultures were presented as fact.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
 * Are the sources current?
 * Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation:
This article is thoroughly sourced and uses references to published academic sources that seem legitimate. Upon clicking some of the links, they either redirect to other Wikipedia pages or to external sources such as published books by archaeologists. Some of the sources date back to the 1970s and extend until 2012, but there are not any more recent than that. Is 8 years old considered outdated?

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?

Organization evaluation:
The article was easy to read and navigate with concise sentences organized into paragraphs under clear headings. It was shorter than others I've read, but contains links to other pages that further dive into the specifics of each culture that practices exocannibalism. There are no spelling or grammatical errors.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
 * Are images well-captioned?
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?

Images and media evaluation:
There are no images included in this article.

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Talk page evaluation:
This article is part of the following WikiProjects: Anthropology, Death, and Food & Drink. As for conversations on the Talk page, there is only one entry and it is from an individual who is clarifying the changes they made to the page's citations.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status?
 * What are the article's strengths?
 * How can the article be improved?
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?

Overall evaluation:
This article provides enough information for the reader to gain an understanding of the concept, but I think it is lacking the component of exocannibalism that is considered compassionate and tends to focus on the aggression or animosity behind the act. It is a fairly short article, but contains many links to specifics on many topics or cultures mentioned in the article.

Optional activity

 * Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback

with four tildes — ~


 * Link to feedback: Talk:Exocannibalism/Archive 1