User:Tdaniels38/sandbox

Article Evaluation

Wikipedia's Neoarchaen page is rather short, containing only two topics: complex life and continental formation. These sections are both relevant since they are prominent milestones for the era. This refers to the evolution of oxygen-producing photoautotrophs and formation of supercontinent Kenorland. There is certainly no excess of information to be distracting to the reader. As far as I know as someone who isn't very knowledgable about the subject yet, no information appears to be out of date. However, I do question the phrasing of time periods such as "2,500 million years ago" rather than simply using billions of years.

The article is in dire need of expansion in terms of content. I would add developments that occurred during the era that led to environmental changes in future eras as well as include updates to changes made in previous eras. I would also want to improve some of the structure of sections, as the writing is somewhat clunky and seems out of order. For example, the complex life sections started with the abundance of oxygen released through exygenic photosynthesis and ended with the photoautotrophs that had released that oxygen from earlier in the era.

The scientific accuracy of the information presented appears to be accurate based on my research from external sources. The language is also easy to understand and isn't riddled with jargon. Other topics are linked on the Neoarchean such as oxygen catastrope and Kenorland that provide additional context. The language is objective and no argument in made in any of the sections, so the article conveys a neutral position that takes no claim toward any particular bias. The only viewpoints present are those of scientific or historical fact; thus, I think it's safe to say no viewpoint is over or underrepresented.

Regarding the aricle's sources, the one reference listed has no links, but the external link takes readers to an interactive online tool that moves through the geologic eras. After finding the source journal article online, the abstract discusses supercontinental cycles which is a prevalent topic on the Wikipedia page; I can conclude that the source supports the claims of the article and is likely credible being published in a scientific journal, specifically the Moscow University Geology Bulletin. It does suggest that the mantle heating unevenly caused the supercontents to breakup at varying degrees, however I don't believe this makes the source biased. Admittedly, even with the limited amount of information in the article, the entire complex life section isn't cited by any sources.

On the article's talk page, the main discussion is removing redundant material that are either already on the page in a different location or can be accessed through links to other pages. Unsurprisingly, the article is rated as a low-importance stub-class, meaning it's "mainly of specialist interest" according to Wikipedia's rating system. The Neoarchean article is part of WikiProject Geology that combines pages to create a comprehensive geologic information resource.