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Venetian Renaissance Art: Article Evaluation

Which article are you evaluating?
Venetian Renaissance architecture

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article due to its relevance to my course, Venetian Renaissance Art. The topics discussed in the early classes so far have consisted almost entirely of the architecture in Venice during this time period and its political and social impacts on the city. The article discusses a lot of the relevant buildings in the city at the time and some of the cultures that influenced them. It also talks about the belief in the importance of the architecture in maintaining confidence in the Republic.

Evaluate the article
Lead Section

The lead section contains relevant information to the article and the topic. It has a good introductory sentence and paragraph. While the lead section is generally well written, it does not contain brief descriptions about the different sections. The first section is about the process of Venetian building, the surfaces they built on and the methods they used to achieve certain aspects/ avoid certain issues. The leading section doesn't really summarize the following sections.

Content

The content is relevant to the topic and up to date, but there is unnecessary emphasis placed on certain sections. For instance, there is a very long section focusing on the Architects themselves. The architects and their works are definitely relevant to the topic, but another section about early buildings is much shorter in comparison. Both topics should be included in the article but it is more important to speak on the buildings and their social and political influence on the city than to talk about the architects and their lives and what they did prior to designing Venetian buildings. Another section, Byzantine revivalism, is not as long as it could be. The byzantine influence on Venice is very important when discussing the architecture.

Tone and Balance

The article is neutral. It doesn't show any form of bias nor does it imply favor/opposition towards an argument.

Sources and References

There are a good amount of references in the article. They are from a wide range of sources, all relevant to the topic.

Organization and Writing Quality

The article uses very professional writing that is easy to follow. The article is properly sectioned into the major aspects of the topic, except for the introductory section which has no title. The article was educational and easy to read.

Images and Media

Seeing as the article is about buildings, there are some pictures in almost every section. They are placed close to the text in which they are mentioned. This adds to the ease of reading the article. The images make the article that much more engaging. There is also a gallery section in the article with more photos of relevant Venetian buildings. The photos are all properly referenced.

Talk page discussion

The talk page contains an argument between an editor and the original writer of the article. The original writer is arguing against the edit made, as he believes some extra context is valuable in the article while the editor does not. The article was rated at a C and is a part of two WikiProjects. The article discusses the topic of Venetian Renaissance Architecture in an educated way, but with the addition of some related but irrelevant topics. It also does not focus enough on some important bits of information.

Overall Impressions

The article is well written, with a lot of good references and images that make it easy to follow, but is diverts too far away from the point of the article at times. There are some points that were overly detailed and others whose detail was neglected. The article could be improved with simply a shift of focus. If there is more emphasis on some things over others, it would strengthen the article. The article is not poorly developed but there is definitely room for improvement.