User:RedClover4/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: Intonation (linguistics)
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate. ·       All three of my children have been late talkers, and communicated solely by intonation, without words, until aged almost three years. It’s a subject of interest to me, and it cites David Crystal several times, so I figured it'd be relevant to class.

Lead

 * Guiding questions

Yes, it had a great introductory sentence. The article's major sections were not briefly described, but were listed in the contents box. I did not find it overly detailed, but it did have a quote from David Crystal, without saying anything about who he is. I don't know if it's necessary to explain who someone is, or what their credentials are, before quoting them on WIkipedia.


 * 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?

Content

 * Guiding questions

The content is relevant and seems to be up-to-date. Most of the cited sources were from last century, with only a few from the last two decades. I am not aware of how much recent research has been done on the subject. I am not overly familiar with this field of study, but all the information seems to belong. I would think there could be a section on how and when intonation competency is acquired, but again, I don't know how much research has been done on the subject. It's a linguistics article, so I believe that is part of a Wikipedia gap.


 * 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?
 * Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics?

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions

The article is neutral and unbiased, as I don't believe it is a topic of controversy. There don't appear to be different viewpoints; it seems to be a somewhat underrepresented topic in general, because of the difficulty of its research.


 * 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

All facts/paragraphs have citations, except the lead paragraph, which does not, excepting a quote from David Crystal. There is a large variety of authors referenced. There are many links; I checked several, and one did not work. The sources range in date from the 1920s to 2015. I am not personally aware of more recent research on the subject, and am not sure what counts as "up-to-date".


 * 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?
 * Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Organization

 * Guiding questions

It seems to be about as concise and clear as such a complicated subject can be. It was well-organized, and I didn't notice any spelling or grammatical errors.


 * 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

It has one image of the intonation marks used for transcription. I don't think it's a terribly important image, since it uses the marks in the Transcription section, but it could be better labeled/explained.


 * 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
 * There are a lot of conversations going on behind the scenes, many of them to do with difference in intonation between languages and dialects, and general clarity of the article. It is part of the WikiProject Linguistics, and is rated B-class. We haven't discussed this topic in-depth yet, except how there may be a difference in intonation depending on the gender and class of the person you are talking to, which I did not see mentioned in the article.


 * 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

It has not received a rating on the "importance" scale. A strength seems to be that many people who are genuinely educated and fascinated by the subject are the ones behind the scenes. I especially enjoyed the section on Function. I think it may be mildly underdeveloped--I was still left wanting, anyway--but that may be due to a lack of recent research in general on the topic. It could maybe be improved if there has been any more recent research on the topic.


 * 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

with four tildes — ~ Are there any studies done with children and intonation? Such as, at what age do they acquire intonational competency in their native language?


 * Link to feedback: