User:Muffinwrites/Choose an Article

Article Selection
Please list articles that you're considering for your Wikipedia assignment below. Begin to critique these articles and find relevant sources.

Option 1

 * Article title
 * Arctic ecology.


 * Article Evaluation
 * Please see my separate evaluation of this article for further information and more detailed suggestions of potential edits.
 * This article has been rated C-Class, a rating I concur with. It lacks citations for factual information and/or opinion in several sections, has a disorganized structure with separate sections containing information on the same topic, contains interjectory statements of opinion, requires copy-editing level changes for grammar and sentence structure, and discusses the history of indigenous populations in the Arctic without neutrality or multiple sources. Of the articles I have considered editing, this is the article that I feel my time would be best spent improving, as its current state requires reworking of structure and factual information along with the addition of citations and the removal of opinionated statements.


 * Sources
 * "The Arctic in World Environmental History" by Greenberg, Jonathan; published in Vanderbilt Journal of Transitional Law.
 * "Arctic" by Barr, William, Ingold, Tim, Bird, Brian J; published in Britannica.
 * "The History of the Arctic Council" published on the Arctic Council main website.
 * "Does Democracy protect the environment? The role of the Arctic Council." by Mavisakalyan, Astghik, published in Climatic Change.
 * "About the Arctic" page on the National Park Service website.
 * "Arctic Ecosystems" page on the National Park Service website.
 * "Climate change and challenges to sustainable development in the Russian Arctic." by Stepanov, Ilya; published in Climatic Change.
 * "A systematic review of the trophic ecology of eight ecologically and culturally important fish species in the North American Arctic." by Wight, Kevin J., McNicholl, Darcy G., and Dunmall, Karen M.; published in Polar Biology.
 * "In our (frozen) backyard: the Eurasian Union and regional environmental governance in the Arctic." by Hartwell, Christopher A.; published in Climatic Change.
 * "Spatial and temporal patterns of stream nutrient limitation in an Arctic catchment." by Hauptmann, Demian and Myrstener, Maria; published in Hydrobiologia.

Option 2

 * Article title
 * Arctic sea ice ecology and history.


 * Article Evaluation
 * This article has been rated Start-Class, and due to a general lack of sources to back up claims and a talk page with only two comments where an editor has suggested a missing section, I would concur with this rating. Factual claims made in the first section of the article: "Endemic species" lack citations. Talk page conversation suggests that there is missing information on the history of arctic sea ice and its future "shrinkage" as a result of climate change. This missing information was suggested by 4.249.3.100 at 15:00 on 22 December 2009 (UTC). I would suggest adding a section to this article to discuss the history of physical characteristics of arctic sea ice, and the attribution of all the facts already within the article to reliable sources, along with the removal of those facts which cannot be attributed to reliable sources.


 * Sources
 * "Arctic Ecosystems" page on the National Park Service website.
 * "Arctic" by Barr, William, Ingold, Tim, Bird, Brian J; published in Britannica.
 * "Record low Antarctic sea ice coverage indicates a new sea ice state" by Purich, A. and Doddridge, E.W. published in Nature.

Option 3

 * Article title
 * Polar climate.


 * Article Evaluation
 * This article has been rated C-Class, a rating I concur with. It gives a general overview of classifications of a polar climate and locations in which this climate can be found; however, the disorganization of the language and overall lack of sources to back up specific facts suggest a need for further editing and increased reliability. While the article is appropriately rated as C-Class, based on my reading of it, I would surmise that it contains the necessary information to give readers an overview of the topic and provide them resources for further research, which is the primary reason I placed it as my third choice of article and not my first or second. While this article needs surface level editing and some deeper work to add citations, it does not require content reworking; if it does require content reworking, based on my then mis-impression that it suffices as it is, I would likely not be the best editor to rewrite the content, and the talk page contains several editors already working to ensure the reliability of the article.


 * Sources


 * "Arctic Ecosystems" page on the National Park Service website.
 * "Arctic" by Barr, William, Ingold, Tim, Bird, Brian J; published in Britannica.
 * "Polar Region" published in Britannica.
 * "Arctic Region" published in Library of Congress, Places in the News page.