User talk:Davisbrd/sandbox

Article Evaluation
The article describes religious identity as a specific type of identity formation, which can be influenced by various factors including gender, ethnicity, immigration and institutions. Everything stated in the article does relate back to the overarching topic of Religious Identity. Throughout my reading, I was not distracted nor forgot what the article was attempting to explain. There are various factors which could be improved upon in this article. For example, when the article touches on factors that impact religious identities, instead of simply giving summaries of the different factors, the article could be improved upon by giving historical evidence of these factors actually impacting religious identity. As we discussed in class, religious identity was impacted by slavery and discrimination, yet this article only briefly mentions this important aspect by including research on how stereotypes can impact one's self identity. In the sense of neutrality, the article contains only a neutral tone, with the only non-neutral (biased) tone being quotations from outside resources. This neutrality assists in understanding the framework of religious identity, and enables its readers to be able to form their own opinions on the topic. The article is fairly vague in its explanation, or description, of religious identity. However, the sources provided lead to more complex articles which describe the topic more in depth. The majority of the sources used in this article do not provide links, which can prove difficult or tedious in tracking down the texts associated with the sources. The few links provided, do in fact direct you to reliable sources, such as the "Oxford Academic" or online libraries. Facts stated in articles must be sourced. In relation to this article, all of the facts stated are referenced with a hyperlink that leads to a source. Although these sources, as previously stated, for the most part do not provide links, it is still possible to find the texts through further research. This article is of high-importance, but low in quality. One reason for the low quality of the article is its failure to describe historical evidence of discrimintation on religious identity and how that impacts one's personal view of their own religion. Factors such as this should be discussed in the "Talk" page of this article, however, there are no discussions to date. This article relates to our own class through our discussions on self-identity and the factors that can influence it. Overall, this article requires further research and explanation in order to provide its readers with a more "well-rounded" view of religious identity. This article ends not with a summary of the entire article, but of adulthood and self-identity. Thereby, overstating the aspects of age with religous identity. Which may provide insight on age and identity, however, it does not provide insight with regards to the impact of religious identity on the world and those who identify with a religion. This article's improvements should be based on discussing history in the context of religion and how the past has shaped our present view on religion.
 * Evaluating the article provided by Wiki-Projects on Religious Identity *

Article Selection
--Brandon DavisDavisbrd (talk) 20:05, 21 September 2018 (UTC)

The Bible and Slavery Possible Sources:
 * The title is fairly vague, this article attempts to incorporate various instances where the Bible and other religious texts reference slavery, which it does explain. However, this explanation appears to be biased towards christian views.
 * This article, in the first two sentences displays its bias through saying the following: "The Biblical texts...provides an outlook into the understanding of recent slave relations and gives guidance to the Israelites on how to further their life in a proper manual"
 * Unfortunately, this type of speech tends to defer readers away from continuing reading, instead the article should either ease into this approach and state it as "one" of many views, or not include it at all.
 * This article spends a great deal of time focusing on working conditions, treatment and types of slavery, while this is important. It is also crucial to show how these views changed over time, how some religions were influenced by others (stated in an unbiased way), and how religions have "evolved" so these views are more anachronistic.
 * Each fact or reference does include a source, however, the majority of these sources are from Wikipedia, and not scholarly articles or more 'reliable' sources.
 * http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195167771.001.0001/acref-9780195167771-e-0475
 * https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0144039X.2018.1439670
 * https://muse.jhu.edu/article/364576

Black People Possible Sources:
 * First thing first, the title is very vague, it does not refer to what the article talks about specifically and appears to diminish the importance of the information given in the article.
 * The article does do a good job summarizing the history and views on Black individuals, however, there is always more to be said.
 * The article does bring a past and present timeline for the history of black individuals, however, it fails to mention the importance of where the term originates.
 * The article needs more information about the history of the term "black," such as referencing The Curse of Ham in order to understand how the word came to be used today and evolved over time.
 * The article also mentions various terms for black, however, fails to present their origins, similarly, this history is vital in order to understand the word itself and how it came to be.
 * Additionally, the article mentions the "Black Diaspora," briefly, which in itself is a large topic, however, it should be mentioned and explained in this article, for the article's purpose should be to inform the reader of various aspects of the word "black," its history, its impact and its use to influence others throughout time.
 * https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/mixed/onedrop.html
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_race_concepts
 * https://search.proquest.com/docview/1733241298?pq-origsite=summon
 * https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/weekinreview/04clemetson.html
 * https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1025&context=cmsocpapers

Sephardic Jews Possible Sources:
 * This article is written unbiased, which allows for an easier read. This is beneficial because readers will be able to draw their own conclusions and interpretations.
 * This article does a decent job outlining the history of Sephardic Jews, however, it does not speak to some very key topics:
 * 1. A brief history of anti-semitism. It is not required to go in depth on this topic, however, it is note-worthy in relation to this article. For it would inform the reader more-so than briefly mentioning the Spanish Inquisition.
 * 2. Talking more about the Iberian Peninsula, what life was like without outside interference; and
 * 3. If it is possible for negative stereotypes against jews, and others, to be abolished or diminished.
 * The title of the article is "Sephardic Laws and Customs" however, what is written in the article distracts the reader from the main point, which is actually unclear. It appears that the article jumps around, attempting to cover all aspects of sehpardic history, however, due to this lack of clarity, it makes it difficult for the reader to completely grasp the concepts laid out.
 * Sources on this article do not appear to be the most reliable, they are not academic and mainly refer to wikipedia articles, it would be more beneficial for the author to use more 'trustworthy' sources, academic articles, or research.
 * http://www.jewfaq.org/ashkseph.htm
 * https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/sephardim
 * https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-sephardic-diaspora-after-1492/
 * https://heinonline-org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/euroclv11&id=17&men_tab=srchresults