User:Pingxia/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: Michigan State University
• Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.
  • I'm interested in how a higher education institution would be described in Wikipedia.

Lead

Guiding questions

• Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
  • Yes, the Lead introduces the University in the first sentence.
• Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
  • No, it doesn't.
• Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
  • No, all the information of the Lead is also covered in the article.
• Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?
  • It is a little bit long and has too much information.

Lead evaluation

The Lead has three paragraphs which would be overly detailed. The first sentence and paragraph provide an overview of the University. The Lead doesn't offer an overview or a structure of the article.

Content

Guiding questions

• Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
  • Yes.
• Is the content up-to-date?
  • Some of the University's data is a little bit out of date.
• Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?
  • No.

Content evaluation

The content is detailed and provides a lot of information about the University. However, some statistic information needs to be updated. For example, the latest admission statistics in this article is the data of fall 2015.

Tone and Balance

Guiding questions

• Is the article neutral?
  • Yes.
• Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
  • No.
• Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
  • No, there are just facts.
• Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?
  • No.

Tone and balance evaluation

In general, the article is neutral. It displays the information that is advantageous to the University and also some negative facts.

Sources and References

Guiding questions

• Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
  • Yes, all references are from archives, database and other reliable sources.
• Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
  • Yes.
• Are the sources current?
  • Yes.
• Check a few links. Do they work?
  • Yes, the links work.

Sources and references evaluation

The sources are neutral and each fact is referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference.

Organization

Guiding questions

• Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
  • It is clear but it covers a lot of information
• Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
  • No.
• Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?
  • Yes, it is well-organized.

Organization evaluation

In general, the article has a clear structure while some paragraphs might be too long to read.

Images and Media

Guiding questions

• Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
  • Yes, it has some images of the campuses, buildings and sculptures.
• Are images well-captioned?
  • Yes.
• Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
  • Yes.
• Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?
  • Yes.

Images and media evaluation

The images are related to the topic and it provides readers more information about the University.

Checking the talk page

Guiding questions

• What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
  • In talk page, most contents are about the modification of external links in this article. There's also a conversation about a name change of the University. This article is in WikiProject Higher education and WikiProject Michigan.
• How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
  • It has been rated as FA-Class.
  • It is a part of WikiProject Higher education and WikiProject Michigan.
• How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
  • It talks about the related news and scandals of the University.

Talk page evaluation

The talk page displays some considerations and efforts of the contributors.

Overall impressions

Guiding questions

• What is the article's overall status?
  • The article has attained featured article status.
• What are the article's strengths?
  • It has much information and all the sources are reliable.
• How can the article be improved?
  • Some statistical information can be updated.
• How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?
  • Well-developed.

Overall evaluation

See above.

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: