User:SpyroThePurpleDragon/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
The Satire of the Trades

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article after reading and enjoying The Satire of the Trades. The author of this work, who lived in the Middle Kingdom period, describes a number of jobs and their negative characteristics as opposed to the benefits of being a scribe. Thus, this topic matters because it offers an insight into an ancient civilization. My initial thought on the Wikipedia article was that it is very brief, or a stub, but had a decent amount of references.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section

The article as is does an effective job introducing the genre, author, and geographic origin of the work, but the author does not address the topic of the article aside from saying it is didactic. It is concise, but should have a little more detail as one would not know the gist of the article by reading the lead.

Content

The newest reference is from a 2001 source, so it may not be up to date (I have not done enough research to know the recency of scholarly literature on the topic). I believe the article should include the kinds of work being described as opposed to saying "a number of trades." Further, it could benefit by briefly describing the genre of writing. I think it is missing a section or paragraph on the discovery of this artifact. This article does not discuss equity gaps.

Tone and Balance

This article reads as balanced. When addressing the description of this work being a satire, it notes a contrary opinion but notes this is in opposition to general thought. However, the piece may be missing a citation on it being satirical aside from the work being titled "Satire of the Trades."

Sources and References

Most of the references appear to be from university press publishers, which is assuring. There is one source that directs you to "Sage Knowledge," the purpose of which I do not know. Unfortunately, only one of the references has a link (the JSTOR one) and thus I cannot quickly confirm the information at this time. Most of the references are from men, it appears.

Organization and Writing Quality

The writing equality overall looks good, but I would make a few changes. The author starts the the Description Section with "It describes..." whereas I would say "The Satire of the Trades describes..." or something along those lines. I might consider rephrasing a couple of sentences for conciseness. The author uses British English spellings and at this time I do not know what the standard for this is.

Talk Page

In the talk page there is one comment from a user asking if there is a source for this work being a satire. From my own reading (which I know is not the standard of Wikipedia) I would argue it is hyperbolic in its description of non-administrative working conditions, but not necessarily making a point about these workers or the nature of the Egyptian economy. The author is arguing that to be a scribe is the best, and then derides other forms of work on the grounds that they are exhausting. In other words, I think this writing holds the beliefs it extolls. If this were satirical, I would think it would be mocking scribes for their perceptions of other jobs. Again this is my own interpretation and would thus not be valid and I will research the topic when I get further along in this project.

Overall

This article is currently very short and I think it could be fleshed out. I think it needs more on the discussion of this being a satire and should include more about the contents of the work. The writing is readable but I would edit the phrasing in places.