User:Zoe.Pierson050/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
1996 African Cup of Nations

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose to evaluate this article because I believe it to be of importance in understanding the country of Africa in a greater depth. I am looking to expand my horizons in global knowledge, and believe learning about and evaluating an article about one of their top played sports can help me do this. My preliminary impression of the article was that it was compiled well and very insightful.

Evaluate the article
The lead section of the article is well composed, yet leaves the reader wanting more. Although there is a strong lead sentence of which describes the content of the material, the rest of the introduction lacks when looking for how the rest of the article will be laid out and in what order the information will be produced. It seems to provide a great overview of what happened during the 1996 African Cup of Nations, yet does not clearly provide information in a a useful, introductory way.

The content of the article is up to date and is useful in understanding the African Cup in great depths. The content section itself is well broken up, and gives the audience a way to navigate through the article if researching certain areas of importance. The contents also display a great understanding of the topic, with pictures and representations of the match to aid the audience in learning about the 1996 African Cup. The author has included details concerning the players, venues, and even the referees of the games within the Cup. The article then includes resources to learn more about the finalists, venues, and nations of which attended. The content is up to date, and has been recently changed and updated by the author to include more information and to make changes to the content which was deemed necessary.

The tone and balance of this article is superb. The author takes no stance on the outcome, any of the players, venues or any of the nations of which played within the 1996 African Cup of Nations. The author does not try to persuade the audience that any nation deserved the win, or that any teams were better than their opponents. The information is simply laid out in neutral terms in order for the audience to have a great understanding of the Cup itself. If the author had a favored team, the audience would have no idea based upon the article. Although the decision for Nigeria to pull out of the Cup is included, there is no stance taken by the author to indicate whether or not they felt this was a good choice.

Although the article is one of great depth, the lack of sourcing leaves the reader wary. Within each section, a source is lacking from the citation spot provided by Wikipedia. The sources are not directly supplied to the audience to double check or to add onto what the article is providing educationally. Without the citations made available, the article comes across as amateur and not finalized. The only reference supplied at the end of the article is one that explains the conflict in Nigeria about performing in the Cup due to governmental restrictions. To create a more scholarly article which can stand properly on Wikipedia, the author must cite its sources within each section of the article. Although the article is filled with links which take the reader to another page with information concerning the topic, person, or place of interest, this is not enough to make an article worthy of full publication. To make this article worthy of publication and to better it scholastically, the author could refer to different webpages that provided them with the information throughout the article. Articles that would be of use are as follows; https://africanfootball.com/tournament-matches/81/1996-Africa-Cup-of-Nations/, or https://www.soccer24.com/africa/africa-cup-of-nations-1996/.

The article is well written and the information is provided in a clear and concise way. There are some minor changes that need to be made concerning the lead section; the punctuation and overall presentation. The sections of the article are broken down very well and make it easy for the reader to understand each part of the Cup.

The inclusion of media and images within the article is very helpful. The author has included the different flags of the nations that participated along with images of the venues, the continent of Africa broken down into the nations that participated, and has provided the reader with different tables breaking down each Group and round within the 1996 Cup.

The talk page of the article shows that the author has made changes where they found it necessary and has provided the reader with information about why they have made the changes. No other discussions were found within the article and no comments by any other Wikipedia users were made. The article is stated to be within the scope of WikiProject Africa, and WikiProject Football. The article has been rated by Wikipedia as C-Class within both projects. It is also rated as Mid-Importance on the importance scale within both projects, yet supported by WikiProject South Africa, which is marked as High-importance Talk:1996 African Cup of Nations.

The article itself looks to be a successful one. Although there is a clear lack of citation throughout the project, there is an abundance of information that has been provided. It has all of the beginnings to be a great article, but needs improvement on some grammatical work, and as stated before, citations. I enjoyed reading about the 1996 African Cup of Nations, and feel more educated on the subject.