User:RichardEdJo/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: (link)
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.
 * Since we are studying second-language acquisition I decided to evaluate a wiki-article about it.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
 * It describes it will in the first two sentences.


 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
 * No it doesn't
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
 * Yes
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?
 * It felt as if some of the info could be moved to later on

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
 * Yes though some of it was more applicable to first language acquisition though. That said a lot of second language acquisition research came from first language acquisition.
 * Is the content up-to-date?
 * As far as I could tell
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?
 * Second language acquisition is a broad topic so it is hard to say if there is info that doesn't belong. For the same reason it feels like it could use more content in certain areas.
 * Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics?
 * Population wise it does not due to the fact that anyone may choose to learn a second language.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral?
 * seemed neutral to me
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * It seemed slightly biased towards United States' view of Language difficulty and learning time
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * I felt Stephen Krashen was overrepresented while many other SLA researchers weren't represented at all
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?
 * I doesn't try to persuade the reader but the lack of other viewpoints could be a sign of bias.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
 * It has too many references for a uni student to look through all of them but the ones I did seemed reliable.
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
 * Yes from what I can tell.
 * Are the sources current?
 * Yes
 * Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible?
 * Not particularly once again most of the resources come from the same individuals such as Stephen Krashen and Rod Ellis
 * Check a few links. Do they work?
 * Yes

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
 * I would say so.
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
 * None that I noticed
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?
 * The introduction could use some rewriting. As for the rest I would need time and more research to see how it could be improved or better organized.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
 * No only a comparison chart
 * Are images well-captioned?
 * NA
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
 * NA
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?
 * NA

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?

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status?
 * C-Class Level 5 vital article
 * What are the article's strengths?
 * It covers the wide domain of Second Language Acquisition fairly well.
 * How can the article be improved?
 * More authors/researchers need to be represented, there are certain topics that could use more depth., revised intro...etc
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?
 * It is still underdeveloped.

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 — ~


 * Link to feedback: