User:Noah.hirshorn/Choose an Article

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

Option 1 (This is what we will actually do).

 * Article title: Snowflake
 * Article Evaluation:
 * Article Evaluation:

It has been predetermined that the snowflake article will be the main focus of this module. After reading the article, there is quite a bit to discuss regarding what can be improved. After taking a read through, I think the article is in better shape than I expected but does have areas that can be improved. The introduction sentence could be cleaned up but I think the idea is valid, a citation is needed. The first paragraph is long and some of the information is repeated in subsequent sections. Work should be put in to ensure that the section is a bit more concise and not as repetitive. Also, an edit needs to be made where it says that snowflakes can only form on dust aerosol.

The formation section is a good subsection to have but the aerosol information provided differs from that in the introduction, this will need to be cleared up. The nucleus subsection is a good start; however, this can be expanded upon and information on ice nuclei could be added here. I was pleasantly surprised that the growth section included the Wegener–Bergeron–Findeisen process. This could still be expanded upon and citations are needed in this section. Also, the growth subsection ends with a fun fact which I think can be removed. The appearance section contains good information but needs to be changed. Two possibilities are to get rid of the color section and combine it with shape under a section titled "physical properties" given that color is relevant but only one sentence. Another better option is to combine the physical properties with classification given that classification is inherently reliant on physical properties.

If the physical properties (color and appearance) are to be combined with classification, the classification section will need to be edited to have a better combination of the classification and how the appearance plays into classification. Information about temperatures could be relevant but may be better off in the ice nuclei section. This is a section that collaboration could be good on to find the best route.

Being completely honest, I do not like the last section about the use as a symbol since it is very interpretable. Instead, I think a different section should be done. A few ideas include a section regarding how snowflakes have changed due to climate change, the types of snowflakes that may be seen in specific weather phenomena, or a different subtopic that explores the intersection of snowflakes and a societal impact.

Sources:
Here are some proposed sources that could be added to the article:


 * A short article that discusses the basis of how climate change results in snowflakes
 * Metamorphism of individual snowflakes
 * A CalTech website detailing the basis of ice physical properties (nice intersection of peer reviewed and non climate involved). This one was already cited but I think we could improve upon the information

Option 2

 * Article title: I took a look at the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen Process. I know we will not write about this, but the breif analysis may help with writing later in the process.
 * Article Evaluation:
 * This article is nicely written in my opinion. The introduction is quite extensive and I think does a great job conveying the concept to the reader (assuming some scientific knowledge). There could be a few more citations in the first part of the article but I think that the reference to look at cloud physics is good.
 * For the rest of the article, I think they cover all of the necessary aspects from a physical standpoint which is a great way to format the layout of the article. I do think that since the aggregation, accretion, and precipitation subsections are relatively short, there may be a way to combine them. Improvements are not as needed as the snowflake article but adding a figure of the process and detailing what the figure means (similar to what we did on the assignment) would be helpful. Figure 3.9 from Wallace and Hobbs (cited in the article) would be what I recommend.
 * For the rest of the article, I think they cover all of the necessary aspects from a physical standpoint which is a great way to format the layout of the article. I do think that since the aggregation, accretion, and precipitation subsections are relatively short, there may be a way to combine them. Improvements are not as needed as the snowflake article but adding a figure of the process and detailing what the figure means (similar to what we did on the assignment) would be helpful. Figure 3.9 from Wallace and Hobbs (cited in the article) would be what I recommend.

Sources:
The article seems to have a good mix of sources including regular websites, peer reviewed articles, and textbooks. Since this is a pretty specialized topic, I think what they cite is enough. However, the articles cited are quite outdated, in order to fix this, adding more recent articles, such as the cited 2020 article on the effects of entrainment on the WBF process could be valuable

Option 3

 * Article title: Graupel, only evaluated to assist with the eventual writing process of snowflakes.
 * Article Evaluation
 * The graupel article is another short article. I think that the introduction portion of the article is quite good since it is informative, concise, and not repetitive compared to the other articles above. The formation section is well done and goes into relevant information, I am curious if there is an equation that could be added to give more of a scientific context. However, the fact that they go into the shape and how graupel is unique from similar processes (hail) shows through research.
 * The graupel and avalanches section is a section connecting the smaller phenomenon of graupel, to a larger event such as an avalanche. I would really like to have a section like this in our snowflake wikipedia article since I appreciate when wikipedia articles connect a concept to an event that results because of the concept.
 * The graupel and avalanches section is a section connecting the smaller phenomenon of graupel, to a larger event such as an avalanche. I would really like to have a section like this in our snowflake wikipedia article since I appreciate when wikipedia articles connect a concept to an event that results because of the concept.

Sources:
Sources for this article are also pretty good. Adding more sources could be beneficial; however, there is a mix of reliable websites, peer reviewed articles, and examples from glossaries of meteorological organizations.