User:Tardigrade98/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: Escherichia coli
 * Escherichia coli is one of the most well known and well studied bacteria; its Wikipedia page will likely be very well cited and frequently evaluated by editors.

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? - It gives a brief overview of the bacteria's key characteristics which are expanded upon in later sections.
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article? - No.
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed? - It is concise.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic? - Yes.
 * Is the content up-to-date? - Yes. The last edit was on February 13 2020.
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong? - No content is obviously missing.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral? Yes.
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? - No. The article is focused on the organism it is describing.
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? - No.
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another? - No.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information? - Yes. The article lists 118 sources at the moment.
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic? - Yes.
 * Are the sources current? - Most seem current. The majority of the sources seem to have been published within the last twenty years.
 * Check a few links. Do they work? - Yes.

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read? - Yes.
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors? - None that I have noticed.
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic? - Yes.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic? - Yes.
 * Are images well-captioned? - Yes.
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations? - I believe so.
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way? - Yes, they are not too intrusive, but provide helpful visuals of the subject and its lifestyle.

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? - One is a source suggestion for a citation needed tag, another is an update to some of the external links. There are also a few questions/suggestions for what the article could cover.
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? - It is rated as a 'good article'. It is part of three WikiProjects: Wikipedia 1.0 Editorial Team, WikiProject Microbiology, and WikiProject Molecular and Cell Biology.
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? - Some of the users use the Talk page to ask questions that they wish to have the article expand on. They aren't trying to edit the article themselves; I suppose they're just suggesting improvements.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status? - It's a very good article and relatively important. It was rated a level-4 vital article in Biology.
 * What are the article's strengths? - E. coli has been studied for decades, so there is an abundance of research out there. The article definitely takes advantage of this by citing a wide variety of sources.
 * How can the article be improved? - There was a partial suggestion on the talk page about making a more common English version of the article so that those with less medical background can understand it. I know Wikipedia has a 'Simple English' option under languages, but the article is rather bare-bones. I'd love to see an expansion to the simple English version of this page.
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed? - It seems both complete and very well-done.

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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