User:Wesley7487/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Dance marathon

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose this article because of its relevance to the course. Dance marathons were a prime example of how societal changes impacted dance and art movements, and how the ideas that grew within dance and art movements equally affected societal change. My preliminary impression of the article, especially after discussing the topic in class, was that it was very informative and unbiased, but also very clearly a secondary source. This article differs from the text we read on dance marathons in that the text involved interviews and case studies of specific dancers of that time period, whereas this article simply provides information about the dancers from an external perspective.

Evaluate the article
Lead section:

The lead section provides a short, concise explanation of what dance marathons are. The section didn't outline the sections of the rest of the article, however. The lead section seemed a little too short, but it also did not include any unnecessary or extra content that was not later explained in detail throughout the rest of the article.

Content:

The content presented is relevant to the topic of the article. There were no unnecessary details or facts/events that were not explained. The content appears to be up to date. The article was updated recently (in 2022). The only potential thing that was lacking was the update of recent dance marathons in more recent years (after 2000).

Tone/Balance:

The tone in this article was neutral and unbiased. The author(s) presented the definition and origins of dance marathons and how its popularity spread throughout the 1920s. The opposition to these dance marathons was also noted, but there was no indication of a heavy bias towards either side; only the facts were presented. There was no persuasion involved within the article.

Sources/References:

The sources provided are adequate sources for Wikipedia. They are reliable, thorough, and also current and relevant. The links attached work as well.

Organization/Writing Quality:

The article was organized in a way that was very logical and clear to understand. The article started with the origins of dance marathons, and then it went into the rules and format of dance marathons. There was a short section on the opposition to dance marathons, and then another short section on notable dancers in that era. The article then elaborates on modern dance marathons, and gives several examples. Finally, the article presents mentions of dance marathons in media. The article was well written; there were no confusing wording or sentences and there were no grammatical/spelling mistakes.

Images/Media:

The article only presented 2 images throughout the article. The pictures presented were of a dance marathon in 1923. The aspect of this article that is lacking is the images/media. If there were more pictures of dance marathons presented throughout the article, the chaos and stress involved in the events would be better understood by the readers.

Talk Page:

The talk page conversations mostly talk about the lack of substance on dance marathons post 1920s-30s. The talk page also makes mentions of the WikiDance group, which users have said limited the content of the article.

Overall Status:

Overall, the article is a moderately weak resource for research, and would likely need more in-depth research accompanying it in order to get a full idea of dance marathons. The article itself is well written, but lacking in substance as there is little discussion on the grueling nature of the dance marathons, as well as more discourse on the development/rise and fall of dance marathons in the 1920s. I think the article could be significantly improved by the addition of those elements, as well as more images/media.