User:Deanre/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: James Madison
• Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate.
  • I chose the article on James Madison because he is known as the father of the Constitution. In college I plan on studying political science and American history, and following college I hope to attend law school with a focus on constitutional law. Prior to my involvement with wikipedia, I have studied James Madison and in particular the factors and individuals that influenced his beliefs that culminated in the Constitution.

Lead

Guiding questions

• Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
  • The lead does include an introductory sentence that clearly describes the article's topic. The introductory sentence highlights the accomplishments of James Madison and the offices he held during his tenure of Public Service.
• Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
  • The lead does include a description of the article's major sections as it highlights different periods of Madison's life which are the focuses of the article's different sections.
• Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
  • No, every bit of information that is touched on in the lead is highlighted in another section of the article. However, parts of the lead may not be incredibly large focuses in the article and may be overshadowed by other topics and details.
• Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?
  • The lead is very concise as it highlights the major points from Madison's life and their influence on the new American Republic.

Content

Guiding questions

• Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
  • Yes, the article's content is relevant to the topic. The content in the article focuses on the life of James Madison, his accomplishments, and how he shaped American society.
• Is the content up-to-date?
  • Yes, the content is up-to-date.
• Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?
  • There was not any content that was missing. However, I believe that there were sections that could have gone into more detail especialluy the one focused on the Constitutional Convention and the influencing factors in James Madison's political philosophy.
• Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics?
  • The article does deal with Wikipedia's equity gap. It addresses the fact that James Madison was a slave owner, and mentions his beliefs on slavery especially during the time of the Constitutional Convention.

Tone and Balance

Guiding questions

• Is the article neutral?
  • The article appears to have a neutral tone presenting the facts in a concise and historically accurate manner.
• Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
  • There are no claims that appear heavily biased towards a particular position. However, points throughout the article do express the importance of Madison's political beliefs and the positive influence they had for the development of the United States.
• Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
  • The only view points that I would consider to be overrepresented or underrepresented are the points that talk about the Federalists vs Anti-Federalists conflict during the Constitutional Convention. Madison was a Federalist, so the political philosophy and beliefs of the Federalist are represented on a much larger scale compared to that of the Anti-Federalists.
• Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?
  • No, there is no attempt at persuasion in the article. However, the writers do tend to focus more heavily on revealing the importance and impact of one political philosophy over that of another.

Sources and References

Guiding questions

• Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
  • Yes, all the facts in the article are backed up by reliable secondary source information from individuals with multiple years of experience and expertise in their fields of study.
• Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
  • Yes, the sources are current and do reflect the available literature on the topic.
• Are the sources current?
  • Yes a large amount of the sources are current. However, as the topic of the article is a historical figure, sources that were published years ago are still relevant with insightful information on James Madison.
• Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible?
  • Yes the sources are from a diverse spectrum of authors as they do not rely heavily from the input of one author. However, I believe that the individual contributors of the article could use more sources that exhibit the experiences of slaves in Virginia during the life span of James Madison.
• Check a few links. Do they work?
  • Yes, all of the links that I checked work, and will bring up the source used by the contributor in the article.

Organization

Guiding questions

• Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
  • Yes, the article is well-written, concise, clear, and easy to read. The article articulates facts and points from James Madison's life and how they were influential in the founding of the UNited States and a very clear and well articulated manner.
• Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
  • Through my reading I did not see any large grammatical or spelling errors. However, there was a place or two were I believe there may have been a misuse of a comma.
• Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?
  • The article is extremely well-organized. It is broken down into the sections that are reflected in the introduction of the article. Each section adequately displays its significance in the life of James Madison and why it was influential in human history.

Images and Media

Guiding questions

• Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
  • Yes, the article includes images throughout the writing that help to enhance the understanding of the topic. The article uses maps of westward expansion, portraits of Madison, and images of the Constitution to enhance the information present in the topic.
• Are images well-captioned?
  • Yes, the images are well captioned and give a detailed description of what each image is and the aspect of Madison's life that it is trying to enhance and better explain.
• Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
  • All images do adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations. However, there were some images that were outside of the public domain if you were not present in the United States.
• Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?
  • The images are laid out in a decent way. However, I believe that the images could be structured in a more appealing way that would make the article easier to read.

Checking the talk page

Guiding questions

• What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
  • There were no conversations present on the talk page of the article.
• How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
  • The article is rated well, but did not show up as a part of any WikiProjects.
• How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
  • Wikipedia talks about this topic more in terms of mere facts. While in class, the topic was often talked about more in a persuasive manner mentioning the influences of James Madison and how they served the United States and both a positive and negative manner.

Overall impressions

Guiding questions

• What is the article's overall status?
  • The overall status of the article is very good. It has contributions from an array of individuals who are very familiar with the founding period of the United States and the influences of James Madison.
• What are the article's strengths?
  • The strengths of the article is that it is written in a very clear and concise manner that touches upon all the major aspects and events that occurred throughout the life of James Madison.
• How can the article be improved?
  • The article can be improved by going into further detail with some of the sections that it covers. I believe that it could go into more detail about the battle between Federalist and Anti-Federalist, the influencing factors behind James Madison's political philosophy, and the formation of the Democratic-Republican party.
• How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?
  • The overall completeness of the article is very good. The article contains an abundance of information that has been developed in a very positive manner.

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

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