User:Janerhan/sandbox

Today, I am going to critique an article on sleep paralysis.

Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?

• The first paragraph has a lot of very general statements and does not reference anything whatsoever. The rest of the article appears to do an adequate job in providing reliable references. However, something to note is the fact that a lot of primary sources (research studies) are referenced for factual evidence.

Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?

• While there was no irrelevant information, I did feel that some sections lacked sufficient explanation which may cause readers to question its relevance (pathophysiology section).

Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?

• “This could explain why the REM and waking stages of sleep overlap during sleep paralysis, and definitely explains the muscle paralysis experienced on awakening.” – some statements seem to inadvertently support one hypothesis over another.

• In the opening paragraph, it states that sleep paralysis is a phenomenon and a transitional state between wakefulness and sleep often accompanied by terrifying hallucinations. While these statements are not necessarily false, they tend to frame sleep paralysis as a supernatural phenomenon. This framing goes on until the end of the second introductory paragraph. Mention of sleep paralysis as a medical disorder is mentioned briefly in the third introductory paragraph.

• The “Signs and Symptoms” section is heavily biased towards the more supernatural experiences associated with sleep paralysis (and there is no disclosure about cultural priming.)

Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?

• Much of the information comes from research studies. These may not be the most unbiased sources. It may benefit the article to include article reviews or add more referenced sources for each claim made by a study.

Are there viewpoints that are over-represented, or underrepresented?

• There is an overwhelming mystical aspect to the disorder that the author over-represents. In the symptoms section, the author only mentions ghostly visions and out of body experiences which is not the standard symptom. This should be moved to the cultural priming section of the article.

Check a few citations. Do the links work? Is there any close paraphrasing or plagiarism in the article?

• The links work and there does not seem to be any close paraphrasing or plagiarism.

Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?

• While much of the information is quite old, this cannot be helped as it seems that sleep paralysis is not a popular nor well-funded topic of research.

Notes/Copy edits:

• Introduction needs to be reworked a little (1^st paragraph needs to be less generalized and needs more citations. The second paragraph seems to be a mixture of a lot of different facts and not very put together.
• First sentence potential revision: Sleep paralysis (SP) is classified as a parasomnia, a disruptive sleep disorder, and occurs either just after falling asleep or waking up. Signs and symptoms of an SP episode include, but are not limited to, being consciously awake yet unable to move or speak and a finding it difficult to breathe. While, SP is not life-threatening, the episode can be frightening. There have been many cases of SP episodes accompanied by visual and auditory hallucinations.
• I would like to change the first part of the third introductory section to: Major risk factors of sleep paralysis include sleep disruption, anxiety and depression, and sleeping in a supine position. While SP has yet to be classified as a medical condition, recent twin studies have begun to reveal a potential genetic factor to the condition.

·      I feel there is a need to reorganize the article. Ex: classification, symptoms, causes (pathophysiology, risk factors, associations…), history (cultural priming) + moving the more mystical symptoms down into cultural priming

Referenced Cites:

http://www.thesleepparalysisproject.org/about-sleep-paralysis/risk-factors/

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/295039.php#signs_and_symptoms_of_sleep_paralysis

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