User:Pmbanks/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article

 * Name of article: Tail Chasing
 * I've chosen to evaluate this article because I've always wondered why dogs carried out this behaviour. I figured it would be interesting to read about it, and to evaluate the article on it.

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 lead was very well put together. It included an introductory sentence that appropriately stated and described the articles topic. All of the sections in the article were broadly described in the lead as well. In addition to this, the lead only includes information which is discussed later in the article. It was not to detailed and it discussed the main sections effectively.

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?

Content evaluation
The articles content was relevant to the topic. It effectively described the behaviour, why it occurs, and the pathology behind it. It also described how it is similar to other known human disorders. The article also included some other facts about the behaviour which were not 100% necessary but were interesting to read about. This article is fairly new, it was published for the first time in 2018. All of the sources used for this article were peer reviewed sources and were all published in the last 10 years. This ensures that the content in the article is up to date.

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
The authors attitude towards the subject is neutral. They are just simply describing the behaviour and facts about it, and there isn't any particular bias towards a position. It seems as if all the viewpoints were equally represented. For example, the author mentions multiple different case studies that each describe different ways that tail chasing can be problematic. They also mention all of the possible causes of this behaviour rather than just elaborating on one.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * 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?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation
All the sources used as references are peer-reviewed, which were published in the last 10 years. This indicates that reliable sources were used since they were written and reviewed by professionals in that area. If you test the sources, you they bring you to the articles where you can read them yourself. From this you can see that the articles are very thorough and reflect the available literature on the topic.

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 very well written. There were no spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. The article was broken down into clearly labelled sections which made it very easy to read and understand.

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
The article includes photos that show the tail chasing behaviour and one of the most common tail chasing dog breeds. This is important because I wouldn't know what that dog breed looked like without it. In addition to this a video was also added, so if someone read the article who had never seen this behaviour they would be able to see it. The images all have captions that accurately describe what the photo is showing. If you click on the bottom of the photo it brings you to a page that shows the source of the image, as well as the copyright information which adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations.

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
When reviewing the talk page of this article, you can see that no one replied to the article. The Article is part of two separate Wikiprojects. Wikiproject Dogs which is trying to increase the coverage of dog related articles, and Wikiproject psychology which is trying to increase the coverage of psychology on Wikipedia. The article is rated as C-Class on the quality scale and Mid-Class on the importance scale.

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 the article is very well put together and easy to read. Its strengths are that it is written in a neutral tone, there is no bias towards a particular position, it included excellent images, and the sources are all peer-reviewed, easy to access, are current, and reflect the available literature on the topic. I believe everything that needed to be mentioned on the topic was discussed in this article. The only thing that could be added is perhaps the type of dog breeds that do not carry out this behaviour, and why.