User:Ryal1ll/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.


 * Yoruba Religion
 * I chose this article because I enjoyed learning about the religious aspects in Yoruba art.

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 clearly introduces the topic of Yoruba religion and who practices it. The lead does not describe the article's major sections. However, the major sections are listed below in the "Contents" box. The Lead presents information in the article but, the information mentioned is not on the bulk topic of the rest of the article. The Lead is concise. The Lead focuses a lot on the geographic features about Yoruba religion which seem slightly out of place here. The Lead is informational and written in a clear way but the content could hint to the rest of the article more.

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?

Content evaluation
The articles contents is relevant to the topic. The article covers important aspects of Yoruba religious culture, like their beliefs about the structure of the world and important gods. This content seems to be up to date for the most part. There is a portion that talks about Yoruba religion's interactions with Christianity and Islam which seems very relevant to understanding Yoruba religion today. There is a citation that is from a documentary from 1949 which could be out of date because Yoruba religion is not static. In terms of missing content, the article mainly focuses on the foundations of Yoruba religion. It fails to mention many religious or spiritual practices, ceremonies, events, that are important to Yoruba religion. This seems like a large part of Yoruba religion that has not been written about. If it has, the page provides no links to Yoruba religious practices.

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 reads as taking neutral position. There are no arguments that are attempted except for at the end of the last section about amalgamation. The last paragraph presents an theory/argument from a specific person and there are no other citations that support this theory that are listed. The rest of the article does not really make any claims that seem to be biased or overrepresented.

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?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation
Most of the article is backed up by a reliable source. Most sentences or paragraphs end with a citation. However, there are some sections like "Reincarnation" that lack any citation. The sources appear to be relevant, as most of them mention Yoruba religion. All of the sources in the footnotes look current (mostly 2000 or later). One link I checked was not a reliable source because it linked to what looked like a blog. Another link I checked seemed to has some kind of link to a pop-up scam. Other sources were okay because they were published books and journals.

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
The article is not as well-organized as it could be. For example, the section on Beliefs is ordered oddly and somewhat repetitively. Within beliefs, there are subsections on "Creation", "Olodumare," and "Orisha." Olodumare is mentioned in the creation subsection, in its own section, and in the lead Beliefs section which could be condensed. In addition, the article sections are not well organized and seem to be sporadically placed.The article does not have any spelling or grammatical errors that I can see. The article could be more clear and concise. The way paragraphs are composed does not really make sense as some paragraphs are only 1 sentence long. Some of the information is repetitive or could be organized differently to read better.

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 article does include some images that enhance the understanding. There are photographs of objects used for religious rituals in Yoruba culture. The images are well captioned and laid out along the side of the article. One issue is that the images are part of religious rituals that are not mentioned at all in the article. For example, the Egungun masquerade is not mentioned or linked at all in the article except for the caption. In addition, an image of a divination board is shown but the article does not describe what it is used for, how, by who, etc. The images are relevant to the article but the article fails to mention their significance to the article.

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
The article is rated a level 4 vital article in Philosophy. It received a peer review by Wikipedia editors. It is part of 5 WikiProjects (Africa/Benin, Yoruba, Religion, Mythology, and Nigeria), rated C class. The article does not discuss how religion functions in Yoruba society like we have mentioned in class. Religion is a large part of determining how the Yoruba live, however, there is no mention about how the religion is practiced or applied. It mainly talks about the beliefs and foundations which are important but do not give any information on current Yoruba religious practices that have been well documented. The talk page mentions issues about incorrect information about the translations of certain words in English and general facts. In addition, there was some grammar and wording clean up as well. There seems to be somewhat of an argument/disagreement about how constitutes as "good" Lead.

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
Overall, the article still needs lots of work in order to be a somewhat comprehensive overview of Yoruba religion. There are issues with organization and content that would be helped by some revision I mentioned previously. Some of the sections are short and not well explained. The would benefit from more information and explanation. I would suggest adding an entire section on Religious Practices. The article does well do provide a background of what and who the Yoruba believe in. The article is underdeveloped in terms of wanting to understand the aspects of Yoruba Religion. There are holes in the article that seem important to the topic. The photos and captions should relate to the article subsections in some way as well.

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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