User:RubyMacbeth/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.


 * Weddings in ancient Rome: Weddings in ancient Rome
 * I selected this Wikipedia article to evaluate because it has a strong relation to my course (Love & Death in Greece & Rome) and I believe that I have sufficient knowledge on the subject to possibly contribute to the success of this article.

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 includes an introductory sentence that provides a neutral overview of the subject matter of the article. However, the Lead does not include an account of the section of the article entitled "Non-religious". It is described as a ritual with involvement in many religious practices, and therefore does not account for this section of the article. I also was looking for there to be a mention of dowries or the selection of the brides/grooms in the Lead. The Lead is concise, but perhaps included some information that could have been substituted for other, more important information.

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

Content evaluation
The article's content is relevant to the topic and is relevant to the current information that we have on Ancient Roman weddings. However, in the Lead there was an expectation set up that the reader would be given some sort of expanded information on how Ancient Roman weddings were depicted in Roman literature, or at least some of the most important examples of such. The section "Depictions in art and literature" gives a vague description of how weddings were portrayed in Roman literature, but lacks the detail and links that would be useful for a reader in need of information on the subject. The section "Dowry" also lacks detail, providing a basic description of what a dowry would entail but not why, how much, and what the symbolic implications of such would be (or if there are any). However, the sections "Clothing" and "Organization" provide extensive detail and understanding on the subjects in which they are describing.

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 article appears to come from a relatively if not wholly neutral standpoint. Any claims that I could have picked out to be biased towards a particular position have cited sources and historical information which justifies any undertones, and so I believe that the tone of this article is one of it's strong points. However, I did think that the bride was focused on providing information for rather than many of the other people mentioned in the article who would have played important roles during the wedding. Brides are an essential part of a wedding of course, but there was a lack of information that did not have to do with the bride; this could be attributed to a lack of sources properly explaining the roles and wear of others involved in the wedding. The post-Augustus viewpoint may also be overrepresented in this article, since there is information which states that he implemented certain rules about wedding practices but no information regarding what the rules were before his assertion of new ones. Finally, the actual viewpoint of the bride is slightly underrepresented. The way that women would have felt about these practices is not described at all, which affects the historical context of this article since brides were encouraged to be afraid on their wedding day.

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?
 * 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?

Sources and references evaluation
This was where I thought that this article fell short. There are references to back up most of the content in this article, but there are not references for specific words or statements that may be confusing or even unfounded to a reader who has not researched this subject on their own time. As for the sources, none of them are especially current, the most recent one being from 2011. This is not a major issue since it is ancient history that is being detailed, but current research would make these sources much more reliable and trustworthy. Another issue that I found was that the source for everyone at the wedding wearing different clothes to protect from evil spirits was an article from Glamour magazine. It would have been far more reliable had the user cited a proper academic source rather than an opinion piece on whether bridesmaids should match their outfits or not.

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
I would argue that this article is not particularly well-written. The flow of words is slightly awkward due to quite a few period breaks where they were not necessary, and this makes it a bit hard to read. The conciseness and clearness of the article suffers from this. The article is also organized in a strange way, starting with the clothing that Romans wore to weddings rather than first providing an overview of the organization, then customs of a wedding. Customs would lead into clothing nicely since the two are deeply involved, which would flow into religion. The sections "Religious" and "Non-religious" are confusing since there is not a particularly clear distinction drawn between what would be considered a religious custom and what would not - The "Religious section describes customs that are implied to be led by religion, but not why. The "Non-religious" section describes customs with legal implications but also mention religious motivation for these legalities. In my opinion, there could also stand to be more major sections in this article. Perhaps some relating to social standing of a married couple or who could marry who and why.

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 three images included in this article are all published on Wikimedia Commons and are all adherent to Wikipedia's copyright regulations. They are all well-captioned, with descriptions that fit the images and content of the article. My only critiques would be that the images are not laid out in a particularly appealing way, nor are there enough to fully enhance understanding of the topic.

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
There are no conversations currently going on behind the scenes of this article, but it is of interest to multiple different WikiProjects. These WikiProjects include "WikiProject Articles for creation", "WikiProject Classical Greece and Rome", "WikiProject Rome", "WikiProject Sexology and sexuality", "WikiProject Sociology", "WikiProject Anthropology", and "WikiProject Women's History", and it is rated B-class across the board.

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
The article's overall status to me was that it seemed slightly incomplete and could use a bit more editing, addition of information, definitions, images, and sources. It has strengths in that it is well-researched and provides a decent overview of what a typical Roman wedding would entail. However, I believe that it could be improved drastically if it provided more information on why particular customs were enforced, what the differences would be between marriages of different social status', and the sociohistorical perspectives of those involved in the wedding (especially brides). I believe that it would benefit from some editing and discussion between multiple users and some reevaluation of sources.

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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