User:Brooklynbiology/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?

Professor Calculus

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?

This seemed like a fun preliminary exercise. Professor Calculus is a character from Tintin. He’s a stereotypical scientist, theoretically intelligent, but scatterbrained most of the time. The article is quite extensive for a secondary character in the Tintin series of graphic novels.

Evaluate the article

Lead Section (EXCELLENT)

The lead section of the article is clearly written and succinct, introducing Prof. Calculus and his idiosyncrasies, his major inventions, and his first appearance in the Tintin series. The subsequent article elaborates on these details.

Content (EXCELLENT)

Content provides an excellent overview of Prof. Calculus, along with interesting background on the real-life inspiration for his character, which enhances its cultural context.

Tone and Balance (EXCELLENT)

The article draws chiefly on the original sources, with no evidence of opinion or bias.

Sources and References (GOOD)

The article relies heavily on links to other Wikipedia articles in lieu of references to the original books - more links to the original sources could be helpful for research purposes. Bibliography links connect to Google books information on both texts. A table or graphic showing all of the books in which Calculus appears would be a great way to succinctly summarize his importance to the series.

Organization and Writing Quality (VERY GOOD)

The article is generally very well written with few grammatical errors. A small text error was identified and corrected when reviewing the article.

Images and Media (GOOD)

Four small images are included. While copyright may restrict the wider use of images/video, if it is possible to use these under fair use regulations, this could significantly enhance the impact of the article, given its graphical nature. I’d be curious to know whether there were any differences in the drawing style of Calculus over the life of the series, something that could be of historical and graphic design interest.

Talk Page Discussion (SATISFACTORY)

The article is included in a number of Wikipedia projects (rated as low importance by most), though recent activity is low. There have been some interesting discussions related to this article, though the article has clearly not been the subject of much recent editorial interest. This may be common for an article at this stage in its development, but suggests a low likelihood of further improvements. Interestingly, there us a brief mention of the ‘fair use’ idea discussed above, which suggests that there may be complications in using such justification for materials under copyright.

Overall Impression (VERY GOOD - A)

There is much to praise in the article in its present form. It provides an excellent and unbiased introduction to the subject, as well as information on the historical inspiration for the character that was very interesting, at least for this reader. I’ve suggested a few areas for potential improvement, including expanding information on the character’s appearances in the Tintin series (ideally in graphical form), and making more expeditious use of available images and video, to the extent that this is permitted. For a secondary character in the Tintin series, I’m actually quite impressed by the fact that this article is well developed and not a stub.

Note: The article is currently rated as ‘S’ by Wikipedia, with a completeness score of 44. This seems low in my opinion. An average of 87 views of the page per day suggests that it is receiving moderate use.