User:StudiousBear23/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Politics of the United States - Wikipedia

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I choose this article as its topic relates to teaching students about our government and preparing them to be active citizens.

Evaluate the article
(Compose a detailed evaluation of the article here, considering each of the key aspects listed above. Consider the guiding questions, and check out the examples of what a useful Wikipedia article evaluation looks like.)

The opening sentence of the article introduces the topic of the U.S government and politics. While it does summarize the different branches of the government and their responsibilities, the lead mentions that the U.S. government is different from other governments but doesn't really have an article section comparing it to other countries'. The lead is mainly concise, but it gave more information about the judicial branch while only summarizing the roles of the executive and legislative branch. The article is usually on topic and covers a variety of topics. However, the lead talked about the three branches of government but there is little in the actual article that examines these. It mainly focuses on the lower levels of government. The article seems up to date as it lists our new President, but I think they could have added more information on recent changes in politics. The last section that mentioned concerns about oligarchy seemed out of place and I felt that that could have been its own article.

It mentioned voting rights and how early on the U.S. gave voting rights to white men, but did not address the Civil Rights movement and the Suffragist movement. I noticed there are points in the article at which the author seems to be sharing their opinion and/or straying from a neutral point of view. The article has no pictures or images, which is a shame as they could help readers understand the division of power in government or the voting process. Although it seems to be organized there are a few times in the article where there is a sentence making a statement and no more information. The article is rated as a Class-C article and its talk page is one filled with discussion and debate as politics can lead to debate. It is of interest to several WikiProjects like Politics, American Revolution, History and Government.

My suggestions:


 * Add graphs/charts to illustrate the election process, voting process, etc
 * Add more information about suffrage and underrepresented groups
 * Take out any sentences that point towards a biased view
 * Elaborate on the branches of government and the development of a bicameral legislature, presidency, etc