User:Okaitline/sandbox

Article Evaluation- Public Opinion of Same-Sex Marriage in the United States

Overview of the article: A very in-depth article regarding national public opinion towards same-sex marriage with plenty of sources and factual information to back up the claims. The general consensus of the article is that public opinion has been steadily improving for decades due to a number of factors, such as generational gaps and increased information. In addition, there are plenty of charts and statistics that exhibit the level of support across the country as well as who supports/opposes (socioeconomic factors). This article is very well written and has a neutral tone, and includes a lot of information that I wouldn't have thought would even be included (such as significant court cases).

Content Questions:

Is everything relevant to the article topic? Yes, all of the information seems to be relevant to public opinion of same-sex marriage. The introduction gives an overview of the shifts in public opinion and discusses the level of support in each state. The overview goes in a little more detail and describes how the issue of same-sex marriage wasn't brought up until the 1950s, and it was not a true political issue until the 1970s, and therefo re public opinion polls on the subject are relatively new but the levels of support and opposition have changed dramatically over time. It then references numerous national polls taken between 1988-2018 and describes how the numbers were impacted by the passing of Obergefell vs. Hodges. Finally, there are several easy-to-read tables that illustrate the differences in demographics, such as age, education, race, and geography. It even goes as far to discuss the difference in opinion across different parts of the country (metro area, region, state, etc.). So, yes, all of the sections of the article are incredibly relevant to national public opinion trends concerning same-sex marriage.

Is any information out of date? Actually, I was pleasantly surprised because there was information listed from as recently as 2018, so the article is obviously being improved and kept up to date. While there are a few sources from as early as the 1970s and 1980s, they are important to have because they show the change in trends over time.

What aspects of the article could be improved? The one major aspect of the article that I would change would be the addition of other court cases that (either negatively or positively) impacted polls. It is good that Obergefell vs. Hodges is mentioned, but that is obviously not the only case regarding same-sex marriage and relationships.

Tone Questions:

Is the article free of bias? Yes, the facts are presented in a neutral tone that merely states the statistics and trends, and no sense of ideology or political affiliation is apparent. Professional language is used and avoids using opinion-based statements.

Are there viewpoints that are over represented or underrepresented? Not that I could tell. Even the citations seemed to be from a variety of sources and are not overly biased.

Source Questions:

Do the links work, and do the sources support the claims in the article? While I did not check every single source (there were 77 listed), the ones I did had working links and included the cited information. Even the PDFs worked fine, which can sometimes have technical difficulties.

Is each fact referenced? Surprisingly, yes. All of the statements and charts had a corresponding citation that were listed at the bottom of the page. However, I could not locate a source for the very first image of the US (illustrating the public opinion of same-sex marriage across the states). I may have just missed it, though, especially since there isn't a reference immediately associated with the image.

Talk Page: Well, I checked the talk page and there were only two comments regarding edits that were deemed as vandalism and offensive. Other than that, there was not any sort of conversation going on. This article is a part of several Wiki projects, such as LGBT Studies and Law. Both of these topics are rated as B-class, and the other 3 projects do not have ratings at all.

Article Selection


 * 1) US presidential approval rating
 * 2) Public Opinion on Global Warming
 * 3) Public Opinion on Gun Control in the US
 * 4) School Prayer
 * 5) Nuclear Power debate

Potential edits and ideas for School Prayer Article

A part of the article that I would like to edit would be the "Ongoing Debate" section. While it addresses the arguments that are for and against school prayer, there is not nearly enough detail to really explain and discuss the pros and cons of each side of the debate. Also, this section mentions the views of critics and the supporters from various countries, but it does not compare those strong opinions with the overall public opinion. So, I think I will add information from polls and other sources that display the public opinion for school prayer in various countries, such as the United States (which is a major topic in this article). I found an article that I would like to add to the arguments section, because I think th addition of public opinion would greatly improve the article because it will allow readers to understand how controversial the topic is and see the actual numbers. The article I found shows the results of a US poll taken to find how many Americans support the presence of a daily prayer in public schools. It also shows the correlation between those who support prayer in schools and regular church attendees, religious background, and partisanship.

Possible Addition:

US Public Opinion

Prayer in public schools has been a controversial topic for decades due to the need to allow religious freedom and guarantee the rights of the 1st amendment in the United States Constitution. Although the topic has many opponents as well as those who are indifferent to the issue, a 2014 Gallup poll indicates that the majority of Americans, 61%, are in favor of daily prayer in the classroom. In addition, those who attend church on a regular basis are 33% more likely to support prayer in schools than those who rarely attend church (82% and 49%, respectively). Those who identify as Republican rather than Democratic or Independent are also more inclined to allow daily prayer, as 80% of Republicans, 64% of Independents, and 45% of Democrats are in favor. These numbers have been steadily dropping since 2001, but the majority of Americans continue to support having religion in the education system.

Article Citation:

Riffkin, Rebecca (2014). "In U.S., Support for Daily Prayer in Schools Dip Slightly". Gallup News.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/177401/support-daily-prayer-schools-dips-slightly.aspx

Peer Review (Phil Koewler)
I find it interesting that many still think that schools should still have school prayer but I am not surprised by the dropping numbers in the polls about it. I really think these edits add some diversity to the topic they show political lines and as well as the representation of those who attend church. I think it would be interesting to see how other countries feel about prayer being in school. I think it would also be interesting to see how different age groups and races or ethnicity's feel about prayer being in school. Overall I like your additions and think they add, again adds something this article does not have, which is a public opinion section with poll statistics and numbers to grasp. Again do think you should add some more statistics from countries like France or Germany if possible, but of course this can be hard.

Peer Review Savannah Hinde
The contributions to the Wikipedia article School Prayer is overall great in quality. It spoke on American public opinion in a neutral tone that offered statistics from a relevant and trustworthy source. However, though the source is trustworthy, the entirety of your edit only had a single source. I would recommend diversifying your sources as it gives different perspectives. It also creates greater credibility to your addition. One sentence I would look at again is “Although the topic has many opponents.” This is a bit vague and I believe that there is a way to be more specific than “many.” Finally, I was wondering if this piece should be under the section Ongoing Debate or as a smaller section beneath United States since it is specific to America.