User:Nedbless/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: Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.
 * I chose this article to evaluate because it is an extremely important event in the history of colonial Latin America, which we have already discussed in class, and which is rated as a C-Class article on Wikipedia.

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 first sentence of the Lead introduces the topic, but does so in a way which is both overly broad and does not demonstrate a neutral point of view, in saying that the conquest of the Inca was "one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas." Furthermore, the Lead is not connected to the overall structure of the article, but simply serves to give a broad, general overview of the topic in question. There is some information present in the Lead which is not in the article, such as statistics about the size of the Inca Empire at its height, and the Lead it somewhat overly detailed.

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 largely relevant to the topic, except perhaps for the section "In fiction" at the end. The content seems to be relatively up-to-date; most of the works cited are from the last 10-15 years, demonstrating that the article reflects some of the most recent scholarship on this topic. The article would be helped by the addition of more information regarded the condition of the Inca Empire before Pizarro's arrival, as in its current form the article only devotes a sentence or two to the topic.

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
Yes, for the most part the article seems to be written from a neutral perspective. It is largely just a retelling of the known facts about the process of the conquest, and does not devote much space to the historical arguments being made on either side about the Spanish conquest of the Inca. in that way, it does not seem that any particular viewpoints are over or underrepresented.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions

No, there are a number of facts in the article which do not include a citation, including the entire section on the chronology of the later years of the Inca Empire. Additionally, the article relies very heavily on a few sources; one in particular, citation #8, is references over 10 times, and is largely what the article draws on for most of the major facts of the conquest. The article cites diverse sources, but again places outsized importance on a relatively small set of them.


 * 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?

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 is easy to read, for the most part--that said, part of the reason for this is because it is often written using overly-simplistic language. There are few grammatical or spelling errors readily apparent. The article is organized chronologically, so the organization makes sense in that way--that said, some of the sections are overly broad, and might have benefited from being split into two or more sections.

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
Yes, the images used in the article are well-suited for the article, and are laid out in a logical enough manner.

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
The talk page features a few back and forth conversations from a few years ago, but the only contributions from the last 5 or so years are one-off comments with no discussion underneath them. The article is rated as C-Class, and is part of numerous WikiProjects, including Peru, Spain, Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, and Colonialism.

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
Overall, this article offers a reasonable overview of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, but does not go into much detail about the actual process of conquest, nor does it deal with the historiographical arguments surrounding the conquest, including how large of a role the Spanish actually played in the downfall of the Inca Empire. I think the article could be improved with information from the more fleshed-out Inca Empire article; that could move this currently underdeveloped article towards being a more rigorous examination of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.

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

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