User:Pnovello/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: Flexner Report
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate: I have chosen to evaluate this article, because the Flexner Report is a historical study that characterizes the influence of the Johns Hopkins Hospital in governing the perception of medicine in the United States. The Flexner Report declared Johns Hopkins to serve as the 'model for medical education,' and advanced the Hopkins ideals of medical research in standardizing and reforming medical education in the United States.

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 concisely describes the article's topic by stating including an introductory sentence describing the general type of study conducted and offering readers a preview of the implications of the Flexner Report. The introductory sentence mentions that the Flexner Report was a study of medical education in the United States published in 1910 by Abraham Flexner, and that the findings of this report still resonate in the current structure of medical education. The lead mentions crucial details and concepts to understand the context of the rest of the article, and indirectly describes the article's major sections. The lead briefly mentions the purpose of the Flexner Report, the closure of alternative medical institutions, the consolidation of medical schools and university training, and the major consequences of the report, which become detailed sections in the article. The lead discusses the shift to male-only admittance programs to medical schools, resulting in the dismantling of the recently founded women and co-educational facilities. This change in medical education, however, is not prevalent in the remainder of the article. Overall, the lead is concise and includes relevant details and concepts necessary to understand the implications of the Flexner Report.

Content

 * Guiding questions
 * Content evaluation

The article's content is relevant to the topic of the Flexner Report. The article provides a background of the reasoning for the study of medical education, as the American Medical Association (AMA) created the Council for Medical Education (CME), in 1904 to reform the pre-existing structure of medical education. The article highlights the shocking discoveries of Abraham Flexner and parts of his summary that grant insight into his reactions. The article then outlines the implications of the Flexner Report, including the change in required credentials to practice medicine, the standardization of medical education, and the change in perception of physicians. The article also mentions the impact of the Report on African-American doctors and patients, alternative medical practices, and osteopathic medicine. The article's content is relevant and up-to-date, as there are acknowledgements to the striking similarities between medical school curricula following the Report and current forms of curricula, and the low prevalence of African-American physicians following closure of African-American medical schools. Content that may have served the article well is the change in scientific and medical research as a result of the Report, which could provide readers an insight into the recent changes and innovations of medical research.


 * 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?

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions
 * Tone and balance evaluation

Overall, the article presents a mostly neutral tone, but does overlook possible input from other points of view. The article provides factual claims and statistics to describe the impact of the Flexner Report, but does rely on quotes from the Report and Flexner to describe the impact of the Report. While the Report serves as a piece of historical evidence, Flexner's emphasis of the biomedical framework of medicine ignores the possibilities of alternative medical practices that are marginalized in medicine. The article, for example, includes quotes from Flexner that condemn African-American doctors as posing a threat to middle/upper class white citizens, which are not juxtaposed by other secondary historical sources to characterize the reality of this bias. Additionally, the article mentions the conflicting interests of Flexner's findings and alternative medical practices, but does not include evidence to show the current reality of complementary medical institutions or any evidence of the change in ideas originally presented by Flexner. While the article does not attempt to persuade a reader to completely agree with the impact of Flexner's findings, there is lack of diverse evidence from other sources to describe marginalized groups of people and traditional practices in medicine.


 * 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?

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions
 * Sources and references evaluation

A majority of the facts in the article are backed up by reliable secondary sources of information, such as peer-review academic journals. However, some facts lack a citation, and this error is noted in the body of text. A majority of the sources are current, having been published in the last ten years. Two sources are from the 1990s, and one source, the Flexner Report, is from 1910, which is used to reference Flexner's findings. The sources reflect different views on the history of medicine and the established views of the impact of the Flexner Report in the current realm of medical education and systems. Some sources offer greater information about the change in alternative medical practices, especially recent ones, that the article overlooks. After checking a few links, I found one link that did not work.


 * 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?

Organization

 * Guiding questions
 * Organization evaluation

The article is well-written, with easy to read phrases and vocabulary to understand the context of the Flexner Report. The article does not contain any grammatical or spelling errors. The article is also well-organized, with clearly defined sections that concentrate one major characteristic or consequence of the Flexner Report. The article includes a section pertaining to the background of the report, its recommended changes, and consequences of the report, which includes subsections of medical school closings, impact on African-American doctors and patients, alternative medicine, osteopathic medicine, and role of the physician.


 * 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?

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions
 * Images and media evaluation

The article contains two images that do not essentially enhance the understanding of the topic. The first image is of the title page of the Flexner Report, and is captioned "The title page for the Flexner Report." The second image is of Abraham Flexner, with its caption solely his name. The image of Abraham Flexner could have been captioned to include the year of portrait or significant event surrounding the date of portrait. These images are not useful in determining or evaluating the implications of the Flexner Report and the current state of medical education, and the images do not appear to be appealing to readers. These images also adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations.


 * 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?

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions
 * Talk page evaluation

On the Talk page, there is no constant communication, however, a user has expressed discontent with the material presented in the article. One user expressed concern over the sentiments of the Flexner Report, offering that the Report is viewed as some as a power move to advance the proliferation of pharmaceutical companies and eliminate alternative medical institutions, which could be represented in the alternative medical section of the article. Another user also contested the article's contention in the reformation of medical education to produce more intelligent physicians, as they believe not all doctors are competent, which they also believe should be supported by evidence. The article is part of WikiProject Medicine, WikiProject Skepticism, WikiProject Education, WikiProject United States/Louisville, and WikiProject Chiropractic, which are all Start-class rated and range from low-importance to high-importance.


 * 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?

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions
 * Overall evaluation

The article is currently involved in a variety of WikiProjects and is a source employed to characterize the history of medical education in the United States. The article provides concrete details to describe the background and origins of the report and covers the major implications of the Flexner Report on medical practices and its impact on the lives of medical professionals and patients as well. While the article summarizes the key points of the Flexner Report by providing statistics and Abraham Flexner's findings, the article can benefit from including evidence pertaining to the controversies surrounding the findings of the Flexner Report, such as the idea that the Report was used to promote the allure of pharmaceutical drugs. Furthermore, a greater usage of evidence from secondary sources can provide insight into the opposing viewpoints of the people marginalized by the current biomedical system of medicine, and grant readers the opportunity to examine the recent efforts to integrate different types of traditional medical practices. Overall, the article is well-developed and conceptualizes the impact of the Flexner Report, but could be enhanced by the use of greater opposing evidence and viewpoints.


 * 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?

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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