User:UrbaSag/Evaluate an Article

User:UrbaSag/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: April Fools' Day
 * I have chosen to evaluate this page as I was interested in where the tradition of April Fools' Day originally began.

Lead

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?

Lead evaluation
The Lead includes a short introductory sentence that clearly and concisely describes the article's topic, which is April Fools' Day, by explaining when the holiday occurs as well as what it usually entails throughout the day. It explains that it is celebrated on April 1st and usually consists of pranks and hoaxes. The Lead doesn't include a brief description of the major sections in the article, but it does describe the holiday in more detail and explains that this is not a holiday in all countries, but only one, in Ukraine. The Lead does a good job of explaining the holiday, without giving away what information is given in the rest of the article. It is a very concise and nice description of the holiday within a paragraph.

Content

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
 * Is the content up-to-date?
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?

Content evaluation
The article's content is relevant to the topic, which is the important details of the holiday, which is not a national holiday in any country, but rather a day full of subtle comic relief. The content seems like it is up-to-date, as the holiday is stagnant, so it probably won't change as more research is done. There is some information that I believe is missing and that is the origin of this holiday, as it states that there is controversy over the exact origin of the holiday, but it doesn't explain what others have believed to be the origin, or any other information relating to this.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article neutral?
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?

Tone and balance evaluation
The article is pretty neutral in terms of explaining how the holiday is celebrated in different countries as well as in the USA. It doesn't have any claims that are heavily biased toward a particular position and does not show viewpoints that are overrepresented. However, one possible overrepresented viewpoint could be that the holiday aims to revolve around jokes and pranks, but that is something that most people agree on. It doesn't however persuade the reader in favor of any position.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
 * Are the sources current?
 * Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation
The facts in the article are backed up by reliable secondary sources of information. The sources themselves are thorough in reflecting what was written in the Wikipedia article. Most are online links, although some require login or security checks before accessing them. Nevertheless, the sources are current and thorough enough to provide the information presented in the article.

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?

Organization evaluation
The article is well-written as it is very concise, clear and easy to read, but I feel that it is a bit too short compared to other articles present on Wikipedia. This might be due to the limited information available about the holiday in general. The article does not have any grammatical or spelling errors, and it is well-organized into the different countries that observe this holiday, as well as the different aspects of the day.

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
 * Are images well-captioned?
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?

Images and media evaluation
There are not many images and media on the page, but they are all off to the side, well-captioned, and contribute to the information presented in the article. The images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations, as they were taken off of Wikimedia Commons, where most of the images adhere to Wikipedia's regulations. There are only a handful of images as there is not much information presented, so they are not visually appealing, which is probably why they are added to the side of text, so it doesn't distract the reader from the written information.

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Talk page evaluation
There are many conversations about the limited amount of information presented in the article. Some believe this coincides with the unreliable sources that are used in writing this article. This article is in four active WikiProjects: WikiProject Comedy, WikiProject Religion, WikiProject Europe, WikiProject India, where they all rated it a C-article with high to low importance, respectively. We have not discussed this topic in class, but it would have a lot more information about the origin, which is another topic many are debating about on the Talk page, as it is not clear and/or supported by any information.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status?
 * What are the article's strengths?
 * How can the article be improved?
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?

Overall evaluation
The article's overall status is not high, as I as well as others, see a lot of problems with it, regarding to the information, topics, and image layout. The article's strengths are very limited. It has clear information about the holiday, as well as many different examples of how it has been celebrated in the past. It can be improved with its reliability, as some sources were not open access, and one wasn't cited properly, as noted in the talk page. I would say this article is very underdeveloped and should be improved with further research as well as addressing all the issues listed in the talk page.

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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