User:Winter is coming567/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Diamond

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I find minerals fascinating especially diamonds. They matter due to their employment in various facets of our society, namely in industry or in fashion (rings, necklaces, etc.). Upon reading the article, I found it professional, enlightening and very descriptive.

Evaluate the article
Lead section:

The lead does introduce the reader to the topic which is the diamond mineral. However, it goes straight into detail, brushing over the properties and characteristics of the diamond, where they originate in the subsurface, different methods to differentiate between natural and synthetic diamonds, etc. Although the lead may appear too detailed with a short introductory sentence, one can observe that what has been discussed in the lead is actually more or less a summary of what is mentioned comprehensively further in the article. Thus, regarding the amount of information in the article and the relative compactness of the lead which manages to include most of the important subjects in the paper, the lead is concise. Unfortunately, the biggest flaw is the omission of a brief description or a table of contents showing the article’s sections and subsections. In this case, the reader has no idea how many sections or what they include. Nonetheless, one can rest assured that the information provided in the lead can be found elaborated further in the paper.

Content:

Overall, the article encapsulates a variety of materials and subjects linked to diamonds. It states the various properties of diamonds, such as their electrical conductivity, and characteristics, namely their crystal habit. Furthermore, it states the grading of the gem for adornment and industrial use as well as the method of transport in which diamonds are brought up to the surface. Their location in the mantle is mentioned as well as how they form and where to find them in the world. Not to mention, the marketing and economic aspects linked to them. The article describes one of the political problems of diamonds and that is blood diamonds. In other words, diamonds were sold by revolutionary and rebel groups to gain funds which paid for wars and human rights abuse. The paper did well on capturing the essentials and not going too much on a tangent. Finally, the article mentions the creation of synthetic diamonds in the laboratory and how to differentiate natural from artificial.

Although there is room to add more content, the information already in the paper is relevant, for it helps the reader to understand and learn more about diamonds and gives an idea about their history. Speaking of content missing, at the end of the paper, the earliest use and discovery of the diamond are briefly stated. The respective section should be elaborated more for it is an important part of the diamond’s history. It allows one to grasp the origin and different beliefs of the diamond from cultures that existed at that time.

The content itself is up to date, for it was last edited on the 26th of January 2023.

Tone and Balance:

The paper does a good job of keeping a neutral tone throughout. The text remains descriptive and explains different procedures and properties linked to diamonds as well as the economic and political side of it. There is no hint of persuasion or any biased claim from a particular section. The article simply informs about different aspects of the diamond. When it comes to political issues, the paper enlightens the reader about the issue, parties concerned and solutions put in place. Lastly, the text offers little to no viewpoints about the topic and is purely informative.

Sources and References:

The article has a total of 164 citations referring to books, journals and other papers written by various authors. Newly introduced information is backed up by a source at every turn throughout the text and is referenced at the end. The most current sources are from 2019 while the majority hover around 2012 and the late 1900s. Many of these sources lead to reliable books explaining the mining industry and diamonds, others to articles, such as ‘Carbon under extreme conditions: Phase boundaries and electronic properties from first-principles theory’ by Alfredo A. Correa et al. However, some sources lead to nowhere for the page does not exist, while others send the reader to news coverage (Ex: ‘Chinese made the first use of diamond’ BBC News) as well as to blogs which have no references of their own to indicate where the information was taken. Peer-reviewed journals do exist for those topics and would be more reliable. An example of this is in the Fluorescence subsection of the Properties section. The citation references a blog titled ‘Fact Checking Diamond Fluorescence: 11 Myths Dispelled’. Better sources would be the ‘Influence of crystallization temperature on fluorescence of n-diamond quantum dots’ by X. Ma et al., ‘Synthesis, properties, and applications of fluorescent diamond particles’ by Olga A. Shenderova et al., etc. Overall, the sources contain the information stated in the text (minus the sources whose links no longer work), despite the fact that some are from news articles or blogs.

Organization and Writing Quality:

The paper lacks a table of contents in the lead section, however, the subjects surrounding the main topic are properly organized into sections with subsections and the font style, as well as the size, has been changed to differentiate the former from the latter. The text is relatively easy to read, concise and the sentences are neither long nor short. Unfortunately, some subsections go on a slight tangent, such as the Gem-grade subgroup, which mentions in the first two paragraphs the grading for diamonds used in adornment while the last five paragraphs diverged into a brief history of diamond companies. Relatively easy to read, because some knowledge of mineral optical properties as well as the notation used to define the cleavage and crystal structure is required in order to understand some of the descriptions and explanations in the Properties section of the topic. The text appears to be mostly free of grammar and spelling mistakes. When read, the paper sounds professional and makes sense.

Images and Media:

Images are present within the paper and are placed next to the paragraph or subsection in question. This allows quick visualization of the more complex properties of the diamond, namely the crystal habit and structure. It helps visualize exceptions, such as double diamonds, as well as how it looks as a rough stone, where is it mined and in what rock it is found. There is one video in the paper pertaining to the Blood Diamond political issue, which enables the reader to learn more about the subject. The images are well-captioned in the sense that the caption describes adequately what the images or video presents. Although, the article could include in parenthesis, after the description, from whom the images were taken. Also, the paper can identify the image at the beginning of the caption with ‘figure 1’, ‘figure 2’ and so forth. For example, Figure 13, Age zones in a diamond (Arthur et al. 2001). The images and the video adhere to Wikipedia’s copyright regulations for the images are either public domain or a free-to-use license is shown. For the video, two free-to-use licenses are shown.

Talk Page Discussion:

Those who contribute to this paper are communicating amongst themselves in the talk section of this article. Their discussions pertain to asking questions about lacking information and where to find it. Furthermore, they attempt to resolve issues, namely one of the sources demonstrates a diagram with different data than the one in the article (the diagram is available in the talk portion but has been removed from the paper). Lastly, they help keep the text concise and look for any repetition.

This article has been of interest to many wikiProjects, namely WikiProjects Gemology and Jewelry/Gemstones, Africa, Wikipedia Version 1.0 Editorial Team/v0.5/Supplemental, Metalworking, Rocks and minerals, Spoken Wikipedia, Geology and Materials. The paper is rated FA-Class by the WikiProject Vital Articles and is considered a level 4 vital article in Science and Physics. Not to mention that this article is labelled as one of the greatest papers put forward by the Wikipedia community.

Overall Impressions:

The article is well thought through and professional. It is well organized and touches an extensive list of topics related to this wondrous mineral, the diamond. The paper is highly regarded and appreciated in the Wikipedia community. It gives comprehensive descriptions and explanations of the diamond, how to cut it, use it, where to find it, the marketing, economy, political aspect, etc. The text is concise, clear and relatively easy to read. The images are strategically placed to complement the respective paragraph or subsection. The article is well-developed and informative; however, one could improve it more. Improve it regarding the addition of more vital information in sections and subsections that were lightly brushed upon, namely the thermal conductivity of the diamond. Nonetheless, the paper is worth the read.