User:Egerity/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: Electrical telegraph
• I wanted to evaluate an article that had a history section and I don't actually know a lot about electrical telegraphy so I wanted to learn more about it.

Lead

Guiding questions

• Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
  • The Lead has a pretty good intro sentence that describes the electrical telegraph, what it was used for and a brief description of how it was used.
• Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
  • No, there's not really a mention of the major sections. It mentions its widespread use in the 19th century but not in much detail.
• Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
  • No
• Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?
  • It's concise, I think it does a good job of explaining the device in a basic way.

Lead evaluation

7/10 It's quite good, though there is a claim about it being the most widely used telegraph device that I think needs a citation.

Content

Guiding questions

• Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
  • Yes, all the references are about the topic.
• Is the content up-to-date?
  • For the most part the content is up to date, there are some older publications and articles but the majority of online articles and references are more recent.
• Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?
  • On the talk page there's some discussion about the overlapping information on the electrical telegraph and telegraph articles. One user said that the information on telegraph service providers is not relevant to the article. The "End of the telegraph era" section is also quite short and could use some additions.

Content evaluation

6/10 The article needs editing and some updated citations. It also contains some info that is not relevant to the article and some sections need expansion.

Tone and Balance

Guiding questions

• Is the article neutral?
  • The article is pretty much neutral, it doesn't show any heavy bias.
• Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
  • No not that I have noticed.
• Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
  • The telegraphy in war section shows examples of how the electrical telegraph influenced culture and how culture influenced how the device was used but it could use more examples.
• Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?
  • No not that I can see.

Tone and balance evaluation

8/10

Sources and References

Guiding questions

• Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
  • No, the article definitely needs more citations in my opinion. Not every sentence needs a citation but there are a lot that need citations.
• Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
  • They are quite thorough, although some could use more reputable sources.
• Are the sources current?
  • For the most part. Some of the books and articles are very old so I will have to check if there are any sources that are more recent.
• Check a few links. Do they work?
  • Many of them do, but there are some links that no longer work or the article being linked to was removed from the site it was hosted on.

Sources and references evaluation

6/10

Organization

Guiding questions

• Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
  • It is well-written and clear but it is also very technical in some sections. Maybe there is a way to convey the same information in a more concise way.
• Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
  • Not that I have noticed so far.
• Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?
  • It is fairly well-organized, I think it could use more sections such as a "culture"section that discusses what society thought of the telegraph.

Organization evaluation

7/10

Images and Media

Guiding questions

• Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
  • Yes, it has a lot of diagrams of telegraphs and photos of antique telegraphs that help readers understand how it functions.
• Are images well-captioned?
  • Yes, they all have pretty concise and clear captions.
• Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
  • Yes
• Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?
  • I think they are, none of them are distracting from the text and are in their proper section.

Images and media evaluation

9/10

Checking the talk page

Guiding questions

• What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
  • Mostly issues about what content is relevant to the article and what should be put in other articles. There are also some calls for expansion on some of the sections like the last section, and an argument about some technical aspect of the electrical telegraph.
• How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
  • In the Telecommunications project it is rated C-class high importance, and in the Smithsonian Institution archives project it is rated as start class.
• How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
  • The discussions on the talk page focus more on what content is relevant to the article and what is not, especially in the history section. In class we discuss how the telegraph affected culture and how culture affected the telegraph.

Talk page evaluation

The talk page is more focused on the relevancy of some of the content in the article, especially its overlapping info with the telegraph article.

Overall impressions

Guiding questions

• What is the article's overall status?
  • The article is rated C, so it is in pretty good shape but it could use improvements. I think the sections focused on the electrical telegraph's impact and culture's impact on the telegraph could use a lot more expansion.
• What are the article's strengths?
  • The history section is very finely detailed, and also explains the technical aspects of the device pretty well.
• How can the article be improved?
  • Again I think the article could move away from just historical and technical information and include some information about reactions to the electrical telegraph and how it came to be used.
• How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?
  • I think it is well-developed. It is more underdeveloped than poorly developed, I think it is in quite good shape so far. I think to make it more complete it needs more focus on society's thoughts of the telegraph.

Overall evaluation

7/10 I think it is in good shape, it certainly needs improvements and expansions but it is far from a bad article.

Optional activity

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