Article Evaluation:
This article describes the basics of skis well, however, there are areas where it is out of date and sections that lack numerous sources. The article is neutral, however, there sections such as the Nordic and snowboard boots that are underrepresented and out of place. The Nordic boot section is very short and needs more information on the modern day boots and the snowboard section is out of place in this article and should be its own page. The introduction paragraph is very short and does not provide sufficient background on ski boots. There needs to be more detail on the purposes of ski boots and how they work before the history section of the article. The history section does not include many dates or reliable sources. It is important to put the evolution of ski boots into context with accurate dates. The next sections on the different types of ski boots are detailed, but they are out of date. In particular, the section about front entry boots should include modern day race boots that have a separate lace up liner that is slipped into the shell to allow for a tighter fit and make it easier to put on and off. The links seem to work, however, there is not enough sources to make this page entirely reliable. There are a few comments in the talk page that complain about having no information on the fit of ski boots. Claykirwood (talk) 00:32, 17 April 2017 (UTC)
Critiquing articles: During the article evaluation, I learned that many sites on Wikipedia lack accurate and detailed information on the topic. I approached critiquing the Racing Flats article by first looking at the information and the sources already used and then I began researching specific details on the subject by using the Dartmouth library search engines. After reading and analyzing several articles on the same subject, I would narrow down the most important details to put into the Wikipedia Page. Summarizing my Contributions: Before my group's contributions, the Racing Flats page was very basic and did not offer much detail in very thin sections of information. My job was to edit the Uses and Minimalist sections of the page. I did some research on the Uses and added some detail and more context to the evolution of racing flats and their design. I felt that my contributions were a valuable addition to the article because they were from reliable sources and explained conclusions from scientific studies. Feedback: I have not received any feedback on my contributions yet, therefore I have not been able to respond. Wikipedia generally: I learned how important it is to provide information from reliable sources not only for plagiarism reasons but also so that the reader gets accurate information. I also learned how easy it is to edit pages and contribute your knowledge to the world. Using Wikipedia is different from other assignments I've done because I am essentially publishing my work to the internet for the world to read so I took a little more pride in my work. If the quality and completeness of Wikipedia pages are continuously improved then Wikipedia can be the go to the site to increase the public understanding of a certain topic. This is important because it can increase safety and reduce conflicting views in specific topics.