User:Rutledgecp/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: Marxist archaeology
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate
 * I am primarily interested in this particular theory and how it has influenced modern archaeology.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic? Yes
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections? Yes
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article? No
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed? Concise

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic? Yes
 * Is the content up-to-date? Yes
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong? Not that I can discern

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral? Some parts of the article which seemed to portray Marxism as antiquated felt fairly biased to me.
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? I felt as though modern marxist thought was underrepresented
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another? It felt as though it was pulling me in two different directions.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information? Yes
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic? Yes
 * Are the sources current? Yes
 * Check a few links. Do they work? Some of them worked

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read? The portion of the article that does unpack the objectives of the theory are somewhat difficult to grasp as a lay person.
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors? No
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic? Yes but some parts feel incomplete.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


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

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? There seems to be some disagreement about the value of the theory and its association with Soviet era politics.
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? Its part of the Archaeology WikiProject and is rated B- Class and mid - importance
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? We have not discussed it in much detail yet but the articles primary source is Trigger and it discusses Childe as being influenced by Marxist theory.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status? It feels incomplete
 * What are the article's strengths? The article does a good job of outlining the objectives of Marxist archaeology
 * How can the article be improved? I think the section on the theoretical framework could be improved and made more accessible.
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed? I think it needs some more work.

Overall evaluation
The focus of the article seems to be less oriented towards information about Marxist archaeology's theoretical framework itself but rather leans more towards an overview of the term’s etymological background. The portion of the article that does unpack the objectives of the theory are somewhat difficult to grasp as a lay person. I would like to know more about how Marxist theory has influenced post processual archaeology.

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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