User:Phillyfoodie/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Anise

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article because anise is a common spice in the cuisine of many cultures. I find it fascinating that reactions to the licorice-y taste of anise are often correlated to geography (when I lived in Sweden, most of the population I spoke to really enjoyed the taste of anise) or age (in the US, a taste for anise is often more common among older people). To be honest, I chose this article because I wanted to learn more about the plant!

Evaluate the article
This was an informative and well-written article with some discrepancies in structure, citations, and content.

I appreciated that Etymology and Botany were the first two sections following the introduction: these provided good introduction to the concept. I did not think Ecology needed to be a separate section from Botany given its shorter length. I thought that Cultivation was a natural progression after the description of the physical plant. I was confused as to why Composition was a subsection under the Uses header - this should have been included in Botany, in my opinion. Further, it was strange to me that the  Liquor  subsection was separated from the  Culinary  subsection. I understand that these were separated for clarity, but in this case the  Culinary  subsection should have been more specific, perhaps named  Food .

This article had few problems with citations: there were two sentences which required, but did not provide, a citation, and one case in which a linked page did not exist. Generally, however, the statements seem well cited with legitimate sources.

The photos of anise provided, particularly those which represent the plant and seed, were very effective. However, the visual references for its use in culinary practices were not terribly comprehensive, in my opinion. It would have been helpful to represent food in various cultures, or perhaps in savory settings as well.

Finally, the article had another potential lapse in content. In the Cultivation section, it stated that anise was brought to Europe "for its medicinal value", possibly suggesting that there is a history of anise use in medicine outside of Europe. However, the  Traditional medicine  subsection only outlined the uses of anise in traditional European medicine. If there is a history of use of this spice in non-European traditional medicine, it should be covered in the article.