User:Ereed23/Evaluate an Article

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: Norris Church Mailer
• I am reviewing this article as an assignment for the NMAC 5108 course at Middle Georgia State University.

Lead

Guiding questions

• Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic? Yes.
• Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections? Yes, the lead alludes to each of the major sections within the article.
• Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article? No.
• Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed? The lead is a bit too concise and could use more development as illustrated in this featured article about J.K. Rowling.

Content

Guiding questions

• Is the article's content relevant to the topic? Yes.
• Is the content up-to-date? Yes.
• Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong? Yes, there are many opportunities to develop this article including going into more depth about her early life, such as her upbringing in the Freewill Baptist church. Similarly, the article needs to expand on her relationship with Norman and each phase of her career. It could even include the addition of a section listing all her published works.

Content evaluation

Overall, there is a uneven distribution of content amongst the topics covered which goes against one of Wikipedia's guidelines of a quality article.

Tone and Balance

Guiding questions

• Is the article neutral? No, there are several instances where the authors made generalizations about Mailer and her actions.
• Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? No.
• Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? No.
• Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another? As written, the article makes it seem like her family life with Norman was a burden on Norris and her career.

Tone and balance evaluation

There are instances within the article where the contributors have assigned emotion to facts with phrases such as "callously responded," "juggling successful careers," and "beat the odds."

Sources and References

Guiding questions

• Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information? No.
• Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic? No.
• Are the sources current? Yes.
• Check a few links. Do they work? Yes

Sources and references evaluation

Currently the citations within the article rely too heavily on a small collection of sources. Aside from that, many of the sources referenced pertain to the same event, Mailer's death, in which they present almost identical information about her life.

Organization

Guiding questions

• Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read? No.
• Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors? Yes, there are a couple typos within the article that need to be revised.
• Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic? No.

Organization evaluation

While the author's attempted to use headings to separate each theme within the article, there is misplaced information throughout many of the headings.

Images and Media

Guiding questions

• Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic? Yes.
• Are images well-captioned? Yes.
• Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations? Yes, the one image present in the article is properly attributed according to its creative commons license.
• Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way? Yes.

Images and media evaluation

While there is an image associated with the article, more images would enhance the piece.

Checking the talk page

Guiding questions

• What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? The bulk of the conversations have focused on the structure of the article and the order in which its headings should appear and errors in citations.
• How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? The article is part of six WikiProjects and has not been rated.
• How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Talk page evaluation

While there was conversation about the structure of this article, it is clear none of the editors took the time to resolve the issues, which negatively impact the article's ability to have a clear structure or balanced coverage.

Overall impressions

Guiding questions

• What is the article's overall status? At this point the article is unfinished due to lacking sufficient information about the life and career of Norris Church Mailer.
• What are the article's strengths?
• How can the article be improved? First, the information currently presented needs to be reorganized into each of the six themes outlined in the article. Then, contributors should conduct more research to expand on Mailer's life with Norman and career to make the piece more balanced.
• How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed? At this stage, the article is underdeveloped. I think the initial authors have the outline in place for a foundational starting point. There is much work needed to turn this piece into a well-developed article.

Overall evaluation

This piece is lacking in several of the areas Wikipedia uses to determine a quality article including the absence of a detailed lead section, unclear structure, imbalanced distribution of information amongst the established themes, and too few reliable sources.

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

with four tildes — ~~~~

• Link to feedback: Talk:Norris Church Mailer