User:Nch5719/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Terre Haute, Indiana

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article because it covers my hometown of Terre Haute, IN. It is the most comprehensive Wikipedia article relating to this city. My initial impression was positive; the information seems relevant and generally well-written.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section

The article has a concise and informative introductory sentence that addresses Terre Haute's geographic location and population. The rest of the lead provides the city's nickname and the higher-education institutions found in the city, which is a key detail relevant to the introduction. There are no extraneous pieces of information, and the lead is of a satisfactory length.

Content

The content seems to be appropriately up-to-date, with references to events occurring within the last two years. All major sections of the article, such as History, Demographics, and Arts and Culture, are relevant to the topic. That being said, certain areas are favored over others regarding content, with the Parks and Recreation section dwarfing the paragraph on local government. Imbalances such as these are not ideal, and underdeveloped passages should be expanded.

Tone and Balance

The nature of this article's topic makes it not especially vulnerable to opinionated writing. That being said, the overall balance of the article has a minor positive skew which may result in an incomplete portrayal of Terre Haute. It is understandable to want a city's Wikipedia article to present the city in the best possible light, but this appears to have resulted in positive content (local arts scene, revitalization efforts) outweighing the discussion of local challenges (poverty, homelessness). Expanding the latter topics could correct the imbalance.

Sources and References

Sources for this article are problematic. For example, the history section is extensive, but relatively few sources are cited. There is room for improvement here, but additional sources on local history should be relatively easy to come by.

In addition, the performing arts section cites only one source, and there is no citation for the paragraph on the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra. Most museums described in the article do not have a citation to accompany the text either.

More broadly speaking, most citations for this article are more than ten years old. This is more of a concern for sections such as "Transportation" that evolve with time, and less problematic for "History".

Organization and Writing Quality

The article is well-written, with no noticeable spelling or grammar errors. The article is divided into multiple individual sections, each of which provides material relevant to its subject.

Images and Media

The article has several relevant and attractive images, with a balanced spacing throughout the article. None appear to have copyright violations. The article could still benefit from additional images, and some images of the city dating from the early 2000s should be updated.

Talk Page Discussions

The talk page is not extensive and hardly any comments have been added in the last 7 years. Most concerns relate to grammar or poor citations; the offending portions have been removed.

The article is rated C-class, indicating that though the content is substantial, there is room for significant improvement.

Overall Impressions

My impression of this page is generally positive. Though certain sections could be expanded upon, such as Local Government and Education, the page remains full of useful and relevant content. The tone has a slightly positive skew, but this is relatively subtle and does not detract from the overall utility of the article. The biggest concern is with citations; most could be updated with more modern information and some passages have few or no citations. For a general overview of Terre Haute, though, the content in this article should suffice.