User:SinbadtheTayler/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
The article that I am evaluating is John Wesley.

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article because I am a member of the United Methodist Church and am familiar with John Wesley due to the classes that I have taken at Candler. Being that I intend to pursue ordained ministry, I felt that it was important for me to evaluate an article that helps inform my own theological beliefs and heritage. This article matters because it serves as one of the few starting points for someone interested in the Wesleyan theology and because John Wesley is the founder of Methodism and other branches of Wesleyan theology/belief, including but not limited to the United Methodist Church, the Nazarene Church, Free Methodism, and the United Church of Australia. My preliminary impression of the article was that the content was more than good. I felt as if it was not biased and generally fit within my understandings of Wesley's life. There did seem to be a lack of some citations in certain sections, which was also confirmed in the talk page on the article.

Lead Section
The introductory sentence gives a clear understanding of who John Wesley is and what he is known for. The second sentence of the introductory paragraph uses the word "societies" without giving context to what those are, but that is a minor fix in my opinion. The lead section does provide an overview that is consistent with the section headings that are to follow. The lead section does not include any information that is not present in other parts of the article. The lead section does seem longer than most that I have read but it is not overly long; I am not sure if I would even cut anything from the lead section.

Content
The article appears to be well balanced with one section not being substantially longer than another. The information is relevant to the topic and also appears up to date. Some information does seem off, but that is up for debate. For instance, the article states that Wesley allied himself with the Moravians after his conversion experience, but my class notes from History of Methodism suggest Wesley was with the Moravians even before his Aldersgate conversion. There are references outside of this article to him meeting them on a boat when he came back to England and it would appear that Wesley started attending the Fetter Lane Society before Aldersgate.

Tone and Balance
The article has a good use of tone and is balanced. The article appears to be written from a neutral point of view and does not contain viewpoints that are overly or underly represented.

Sources and References
Not all facts in the article are backed up by a citation.

"The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Methodist movement that continues to this day" has no citation to backup this claim.

The entire second, third, and fourth paragraphs of the lead section have no citation.

There are facts stated in just about every section that need to be backed up with a citation; this is also stated in the Talk page by a couple of editors as well. It might be possible that the last sentence of some paragraphs holds the citation for the entire paragraph, but that is not clear at all.

It appears that most parts that need citations do state fact, but there is still a need for a source to serve as evidence.

Sources and citations that could be added include: Randy Maddox's Responsible Grace, John Whitehead's The Life of John Wesley, Luke Tyerman's Life and Times of John Wesley, Richard P. Heitzenrater's Wesley and the People Called Methodists, and Rex D. Matthews' Timetables of History for Students of Methodism.

It does appear that this page has been updated recently because there is evidence of articles from 2020 and 2021, leading me to believe that the sources are up to date. I do not see evidence of blog posts being used in place academic articles, which is correct. Additionally, the UMC has been cited a few times and in the case of John Wesley, I believe it should be allowed. While the general rule is that one should not use sources from a company's website, in the case of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, I perceive the UMC's website as sharing the true history of Wesley, not a false history or narrative.

The links that I clicked on brought me to the correct citations, though, some sources do not contain citations to other works. For instance, "Bowen, William Abraham (1901). Why Two Episcopal Methodist Churches in the United States?: A Brief History Answering this Question for the Benefit of Epworth Leaguers and Other Young" and

"Yrigoyen, Charles (1996). "Wesley John, "Thoughts Upon Slavery"". John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life. New York: Mission Education and Cultivation Program Dept. for the Women's Division, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church" do not contain hyperlinks that bring you to the source itself.

Organizations and Writing Quality
The writing is concise and clear, though it does use some British English. This is explained on the Talk page. I do not see any grammatical errors outside of the type of English used. The article is well organized.

Images and Media
The article contains a number of images that highlight both who John Wesley was and important moments in his ministry. Additionally, there are images of plaques and famous landmarks that highlight events in Wesley's life. Each photo has appropriate captions and appear to follow Wikipedia's copyright regulations. However, the first image, has the following warning "

While Commons policy accepts the use of this media, one or more third parties have made copyright claims against Wikimedia Commons in relation to the work from which this is sourced or a purely mechanical reproduction thereof. This may be due to recognition of the "sweat of the brow" doctrine, allowing works to be eligible for protection through skill and labour, and not purely by originality as is the case in the United States (where this website is hosted). These claims may or may not be valid in all jurisdictions. As such, use of this image in the jurisdiction of the claimant or other countries may be regarded as copyright infringement."

Talk Page Discussion
The talk page is filled with sections made by folks who believe certain pieces of information should be added or changed. A few have commented to share what changes they added but the page is largely filled with people thinking that some information should be added. Some comments are more theological than others as well. This article is a C-Class Article as well as a level-4 Vital Article. This article was also a former featured article and was featured on Wikipedia's main page "On this Day..." column on May 24, 2004, May 24, 2008, May 24, 2009, May 24, 2010, and May 24, 2013. Additionally, the article is associated with the following WikiProjects: University of Oxford, England, Christianity/Theology/Saints/Anglicanism/Arminianism/Methodism/Holiness, Religion, Biography, London, Bristol, and Lincolnshire.

Overall Impressions
Overall, I would say that the article is planned out well with adequate information given to each section. I think there is potential for more information to be added that could provide some interesting analysis on Wesley's personal life and his relationship with Charles Wesley. There is a need for more thorough citations, however. The article's strengths include its description of Wesley's theology and early life, though more could still be added. This article is well-developed and would give the average reader a good understanding of who John Wesley was.