User:CapeCodTaphos/Evaluate an Article
 | Evaluate an article
Complete your article evaluation below. Here are the key aspects to consider: Lead sectionA good lead section defines the topic and provides a concise overview. A reader who just wants to identify the topic can read the first sentence. A reader who wants a very brief overview of the most important things about it can read the first paragraph. A reader who wants a quick overview can read the whole lead section.
ContentA good Wikipedia article should cover all the important aspects of a topic, without putting too much weight on one part while neglecting another.
Tone and BalanceWikipedia articles should be written from a neutral point of view; if there are substantial differences of interpretation or controversies among published, reliable sources, those views should be described as fairly as possible.
Sources and ReferencesA Wikipedia article should be based on the best sources available for the topic at hand. When possible, this means academic and peer-reviewed publications or scholarly books.
Organization and writing qualityThe writing should be clear and professional, the content should be organized sensibly into sections.
Images and Media
Talk page discussionThe article's talk page — and any discussions among other Wikipedia editors that have been taking place there — can be a useful window into the state of an article, and might help you focus on important aspects that you didn't think of.
Overall impressions
Examples of good feedbackA good article evaluation can take a number of forms. The most essential things are to clearly identify the biggest shortcomings, and provide specific guidance on how the article can be improved. |
Which article are you evaluating?
[edit]Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
[edit]I chose it because I am familiar with the town and the surrounding area, and saw that it was listed as a C-Class article. Although the basic fundamentals of the article are acceptable, there is information that could be brought up to date. Furthermore, there could be additional references added to provide evidence or additional information to readers. Orleans is on Cape Cod and is a popular tourist destination, so keeping this page up to date is important for both locals and tourists alike.
Evaluate the article
[edit]While the Lead section references data from the 2020 census, the Demographics section solely references the 2000 census. The Lead section does not have a brief description of the article's main sections. While concise, it could offer a bit more background information with notable points of interest such as the Attack on Orleans. It could be slightly expanded to provide a little more overview about the points covered in the rest of the article.
The Demographics section has outdated information from the 2000 census, despite the Lead section and other portions of the article referencing the 2020 census. This is the major point of criticism as the data is very outdated.
The content itself is all relevant to the article topic, but some sections and points of interest could be expanded upon to provide more information. A subsection on sites of historical interest would be a good addition to the page. Also, the article's History section fails to address the Indigenous people who lived in the area long before the settlements of the Pilgrims. Another potential addition to the article would be a paragraph on the town beaches under the Sports and Recreation section. Nauset Beach is a notable beach that even has its own article linked at the See Also section but should be mentioned within the article itself. A section on notable people may also be good as several notable individuals from history and modern culture are from or associated with Orleans. It may also be prudent to mention that there is a notable and somewhat controversial religious community located within Orleans, the Community of Jesus, which has ties to various organizations within the town.
The tone of the article is neutral and there does not appear to be any issue with noticeable bias. The sources provided for the article are reliable and most are up to date. However, there could be more sources added to various areas of the article, especially for the History section and sections on Education, Sports and Recreation, and the Attack on Orleans.
The article is mostly clear and concise, although there are several grammatical errors that need to be fixed within the Lead section and the Government section. The article is broken up into intuitive sections that are well organized. The images included in the article add to the understanding of the topic, however, some are placed in an odd spot that makes the entire article seem awkwardly formatted. Two of the pictures of historic sites or points of interest feature places not directly mentioned in the article itself, which makes them feel out of place. For instance, there is a picture of an inn but no mention of it within the article itself. The same is true for the picture of the Jonathan Young Windmill. These two pictures would benefit from the addition of a section on historical sites of points of interest that mention them along with other sites in town.
On the Talk Page, the article is listed as a C-Class article and is listed as being of interest to the United States: Massachusetts: Cape Cod and the Islands WikiProject and the Cities WikiProject. There is only one contribution to the Talk Page that was made by the InternetArchiveBot about updated external links. There are no other discussions or entries on the page.
Overall, the article gives a very basic overview of the town of Orleans and is slightly underdeveloped. It also needs to be updated with current data and information in several sections and reformatted to be more visually coherent. The article does a good job of having a neutral tone. While the organization of the textual content is well done and covers relevant topics, the text itself could be expanded upon in certain sections. It could definitely use some work to make it more accurate and informative.