Wikipedia:WikiProject History of Science/Assessment

Welcome to the assessment department of WikiProject History of Science! This department focuses on assessing the quality of Wikipedia's history of science related articles (including history of technology, history of medicine, science studies, STS, etc.) While much of the work is done in conjunction with the WP:1.0 program, the article ratings are also used within the project itself to aid in recognizing excellent contributions and identifying topics in need of further work.

The ratings are done in a distributed fashion through parameters in the {{WikiProject History of Science}} banner; this causes the articles to be placed into the appropriate sub-categories of Category:History of science articles by quality and Category:History of science articles by importance, which serve as the foundation for an automatically generated worklist.

History of science articles by quality and importance
Quality	Importance
	Top	High	Mid	Low	NA	???	Total
FA	6	24	16	9			55
FL			4	2			6
GA	12	24	36	33		2	107
B	28	113	160	139		57	497
C	24	95	206	299		134	758
Start	6	65	169	618		268	1,126
Stub		8	26	256		91	381
List		17	50	800	2	58	927
Category				1	1,707		1,708
Portal					2		2
Project					18		18
Template				2	40		42
NA		1	8	8	127		144
Assessed	76	347	675	2,167	1,896	610	5,771
Unassessed						18	18
Total	76	347	675	2,167	1,896	628	5,789
WikiWork factors (?)		ω = 12,653			Ω = 4.33

Frequently asked questions

How can I get an article rated?

Please list it in the section for assessment requests below.

Who can assess articles?

Any member of WikiProject History of Science is free to add or change the rating of an article.

Why didn't the reviewer leave any comments?

Unfortunately, due to the volume of articles that need to be assessed, we are unable to leave detailed comments in most cases. If you have particular questions, you might ask the person who assessed the article; they will usually be happy to provide you with their reasoning.

What if I don't agree with a rating?

You can list it in the section for assessment requests below, and someone will take a look at it. Alternately, you can ask any member of the project to rate the article again.

Aren't the ratings subjective?

Yes, they are, but it's the best system we've been able to devise; if you have a better idea, please don't hesitate to let us know!

If you have any other questions not listed here, please feel free to ask them on the discussion page for this department.

Instructions

Quality assessments

An article's quality assessment is generated from the class parameter in the {{WikiProject History of Science}} project banner on its talk page:

{{WikiProject History of Science|class=???}}

The following values may be used for the class parameter to describe the quality of the article (see Wikipedia:Content assessment for assessment criteria):

FA (for featured articles only; adds articles to Category:FA-Class history of science articles)		FA
A (adds articles to Category:A-Class history of science articles)		A
GA (for good articles only; adds articles to Category:GA-Class history of science articles)		GA
B (adds articles to Category:B-Class history of science articles)		B
C (adds articles to Category:C-Class history of science articles)		C
Start (adds articles to Category:Start-Class history of science articles)		Start
Stub (adds articles to Category:Stub-Class history of science articles)		Stub
FL (for featured lists only; adds articles to Category:FL-Class history of science articles)		FL
List (adds articles to Category:List-Class history of science articles)		List

For non-standard grades and non-mainspace content, the following values may be used for the class parameter:

Category (for categories; adds pages to Category:Category-Class history of science articles)		Category
Portal (for portal pages; adds pages to Category:Portal-Class history of science articles)		Portal
Project (for project pages; adds pages to Category:Project-Class history of science articles)		Project
Template (for templates and modules; adds pages to Category:Template-Class history of science articles)		Template
NA (for any other pages where assessment is unnecessary; adds pages to Category:NA-Class history of science articles)		NA
??? (articles for which a valid class has not yet been provided are listed in Category:Unassessed history of science articles)		???

Quality scale

WikiProject article quality grading scheme

Class	Criteria	Reader's experience	Editing suggestions	Example
FA	The article has attained featured article status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers from WP:Featured article candidates. More detailed criteria The article meets the featured article criteria: A featured article exemplifies Wikipedia's very best work and is distinguished by professional standards of writing, presentation, and sourcing. In addition to meeting the policies regarding content for all Wikipedia articles, it has the following attributes. It is: well-written: its prose is engaging and of a professional standard; comprehensive: it neglects no major facts or details and places the subject in context; well-researched: it is a thorough and representative survey of the relevant literature; claims are verifiable against high-quality reliable sources and are supported by inline citations where appropriate; neutral: it presents views fairly and without bias; stable: it is not subject to ongoing edit wars and its content does not change significantly from day to day, except in response to the featured article process; and compliant with Wikipedia's copyright policy and free of plagiarism or too-close paraphrasing. It follows the style guidelines, including the provision of: a lead: a concise lead section that summarizes the topic and prepares the reader for the detail in the subsequent sections; appropriate structure: a substantial but not overwhelming system of hierarchical section headings; and consistent citations: where required by criterion 1c, consistently formatted inline citations using footnotes—see citing sources for suggestions on formatting references. Citation templates are not required. Media. It has images and other media, where appropriate, with succinct captions and acceptable copyright status. Images follow the image use policy. Non-free images or media must satisfy the criteria for inclusion of non-free content and be labeled accordingly. Length. It stays focused on the main topic without going into unnecessary detail and uses summary style where appropriate.	Professional, outstanding, and thorough; a definitive source for encyclopedic information.	No further content additions should be necessary unless new information becomes available; further improvements to the prose quality are often possible.[under discussion]	Cleopatra (as of June 2018)
FL	The article has attained featured list status by passing an in-depth examination by impartial reviewers from WP:Featured list candidates. More detailed criteria The article meets the featured list criteria: Prose. It features professional standards of writing. Lead. It has an engaging lead that introduces the subject and defines the scope and inclusion criteria. Comprehensiveness. (a) It comprehensively covers the defined scope, providing at least all of the major items and, where practical, a complete set of items; where appropriate, it has annotations that provide useful and appropriate information about the items. (b) statements are sourced where they appear, and they provide inline citations if they contain any of the four kinds of material absolutely required to have citations. (c) In length and/or topic, it meets all of the requirements for stand-alone lists; does not violate the content-forking guideline, does not largely duplicate material from another article, and could not reasonably be included as part of a related article. Structure. It is easy to navigate and includes, where helpful, section headings and table sort facilities. Style. It complies with the Manual of Style and its supplementary pages. (a) Visual appeal. It makes suitable use of text layout, formatting, tables, and colour; and a minimal proportion of items are redlinked. (b) Media files. It has images and other media, if appropriate to the topic, that follow Wikipedia's usage policies, with succinct captions. Non-free images and other media satisfy the criteria for the inclusion of non-free content and are labeled accordingly. (c) Accessibility. It uses proper formating to be accessible to all readers. Bulleted and unbulleted lists and tables are structured correctly. Visual media, if included, utilize alternative (alt) text. Stability. It is not the subject of ongoing edit wars and its content does not change significantly from day to day, except in response to the featured list process.	Professional standard; it comprehensively covers the defined scope, usually providing a complete set of items, and has annotations that provide useful and appropriate information about those items.	No further content additions should be necessary unless new information becomes available.	List of dates predicted for apocalyptic events (as of May 2018)
A	The article is well organized and essentially complete, having been examined by impartial reviewers from a WikiProject or elsewhere. Good article status is not a requirement for A-Class. More detailed criteria The article meets the A-Class criteria: Provides a well-written, clear and complete description of the topic, as described in Wikipedia:Article development. It should be of a length suitable for the subject, appropriately structured, and be well referenced by a broad array of reliable sources. It should be well illustrated, with no copyright problems. Only minor style issues and other details need to be addressed before submission as a featured article candidate. See the A-Class assessment departments of some of the larger WikiProjects (e.g. WikiProject Military history).	Very useful to readers. A fairly complete treatment of the subject. A non-expert in the subject would typically find nothing wanting.	Expert knowledge may be needed to tweak the article, and style problems may need solving. WP:Peer review may help.	Battle of Nam River (as of June 2014)
GA	The article meets all of the good article criteria, and has been examined by one or more impartial reviewers from WP:Good article nominations. More detailed criteria A good article is: Well-written: the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct; and it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation. Verifiable with no original research: it contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline; reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose); it contains no original research; and it contains no copyright violations or plagiarism. Broad in its coverage: it addresses the main aspects of the topic; and it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style). Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute. Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio: media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content; and media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions.	Useful to nearly all readers, with no obvious problems; approaching (though not necessarily equalling) the quality of a professional publication.	Some editing by subject and style experts is helpful; comparison with an existing featured article on a similar topic may highlight areas where content is weak or missing.	Discovery of the neutron (as of April 2019)
B	The article meets all of the B-Class criteria. It is mostly complete and does not have major problems, but requires some further work to reach good article standards. More detailed criteria The article is suitably referenced, with inline citations. It has reliable sources, and any important or controversial material which is likely to be challenged is cited. Any format of inline citation is acceptable: the use of <ref> tags and citation templates such as {{cite web}} is optional. The article reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain obvious omissions or inaccuracies. It contains a large proportion of the material necessary for an A-Class article, although some sections may need expansion, and some less important topics may be missing. The article has a defined structure. Content should be organized into groups of related material, including a lead section and all the sections that can reasonably be included in an article of its kind. The article is reasonably well-written. The prose contains no major grammatical errors and flows sensibly, but it does not need to be "brilliant". The Manual of Style does not need to be followed rigorously. The article contains supporting materials where appropriate. Illustrations are encouraged, though not required. Diagrams, an infobox etc. should be included where they are relevant and useful to the content. The article presents its content in an appropriately understandable way. It is written with as broad an audience in mind as possible. The article should not assume unnecessary technical background and technical terms should be explained or avoided where possible.	Readers are not left wanting, although the content may not be complete enough to satisfy a serious student or researcher.	A few aspects of content and style need to be addressed. Expert knowledge may be needed. The inclusion of supporting materials should be considered if practical, and the article checked for general compliance with the Manual of Style and related style guidelines.	Psychology (as of January 2024)
C	The article is substantial but is still missing important content or contains irrelevant material. The article should have some references to reliable sources, but may still have significant problems or require substantial cleanup. More detailed criteria The article cites more than one reliable source and is better developed in style, structure, and quality than Start-Class, but it fails one or more of the criteria for B-Class. It may have some gaps or missing elements, or need editing for clarity, balance, or flow.	Useful to a casual reader, but would not provide a complete picture for even a moderately detailed study.	Considerable editing is needed to close gaps in content and solve cleanup problems.	Wing (as of June 2018)
Start	An article that is developing but still quite incomplete. It may or may not cite adequate reliable sources. More detailed criteria The article has a meaningful amount of good content, but it is still weak in many areas. The article has one or more of the following: A useful picture or graphic Multiple links that help explain or illustrate the topic A subheading that fully treats an element of the topic Multiple subheadings that indicate material that could be added to complete the article	Provides some meaningful content, but most readers will need more.	Providing references to reliable sources should come first; the article also needs substantial improvement in content and organisation. Also improve the grammar, spelling, writing style and improve the jargon use.	Ball (as of September 2014)
Stub	A very basic description of the topic. Meets none of the Start-Class criteria.	Provides very little meaningful content; may be little more than a dictionary definition. Readers probably see insufficiently developed features of the topic and may not see how the features of the topic are significant.	Any editing or additional material can be helpful. The provision of meaningful content should be a priority. The best solution for a Stub-class Article to step up to a Start-class Article is to add in referenced reasons of why the topic is significant.	Lineage (anthropology) (as of December 2014)
List	Meets the criteria of a stand-alone list or set index article, which is an article that contains primarily a list, usually consisting of links to articles in a particular subject area.	There is no set format for a list, but its organization should be logical and useful to the reader.	Lists should be lists of live links to Wikipedia articles, appropriately named and organized.	List of literary movements
Category	Any category falls under this class.	Categories are mainly used to group together articles within a particular subject area.	Large categories may need to be split into one or more subcategories. Be wary of articles that have been miscategorized.	Category:Software
Template	Any template falls under this class. The most common types of templates include infoboxes and navboxes.	Different types of templates serve different purposes. Infoboxes provide easy access to key pieces of information about the subject. Navboxes are for the purpose of grouping together related subjects into an easily accessible format, to assist the user in navigating between articles.	Infoboxes are typically placed at the upper right of an article, while navboxes normally go across the very bottom of a page. Beware of too many different templates, as well as templates that give either too little, too much, or too specialized information.	Template:Martial arts
NA	Any non-article page that fits no other classification.	The page contains no article content.	Look out for misclassified articles. Currently, many NA-class articles may need to be re-classified.

Importance assessment

An article's importance assessment is generated from the importance parameter in the {{WikiProject History of Science}} project banner on its talk page:

{{WikiProject History of Science|importance=???}}

The following values may be used for the importance parameter to describe the relative importance of the article within the project (see Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Priority of topic for assessment criteria):

Top (adds articles to Category:Top-importance history of science articles)		Top
High (adds articles to Category:High-importance history of science articles)		High
Mid (adds articles to Category:Mid-importance history of science articles)		Mid
Low (adds articles to Category:Low-importance history of science articles)		Low
NA (adds articles to Category:NA-importance history of science articles)		NA
??? (articles for which a valid importance rating has not yet been provided are listed in Category:Unknown-importance history of science articles)		???

Importance scale

WikiProject article importance scheme

Importance	Criteria	Example
Top	The article is one of the core topics about the history of science. Generally, this is limited to those articles that are included as sections of the main History of science, History of medicine, and History of technology articles.	History of science
High	The article covers a topic that is vital to understanding the history of science.	Galileo Galilei
Mid	The article covers a topic that has a strong but not vital role in the history of science.	German nuclear energy project
Low	The article is not required knowledge for a broad understanding of the history of science.	An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump
NA	Subject importance is not applicable. Generally applies to non-article pages such as redirects, categories, templates, etc.	Category:History of science
???	Subject importance has not yet been assessed.

Requesting an assessment

If you have made significant changes to an article and would like an outside opinion on a new rating for it, please feel free to list it below.

• Prehistoric medicine: Last assessment was on the 26th January. There have been numerous additions/revisions to the article since then and is now, in my opinion, worthy of more than a 'Start'. MasterOfHisOwnDomain (talk) 17:45, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

 Done. Who says this project moves slowly? Confirmed the current C-class rating. Thparkth (talk) 01:09, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

• History of cell membrane theory: I recently created this article and would love to get some feedback on it. --MDougM (talk) 23:10, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

 Done by Pyrotec in Jan 2010. Minimal changes to the article to then, no obvious reason to reassess now. Thparkth (talk) 01:12, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

• Lobotomy I've recently added this article to the History of Science. Would it be possible to get an assessment? When I initially entered the "tag" in the discussion page for the History of Science I entered my own assessment (I'm new to this :) ). So although it says the article was already assessed below, this was done by me, and not your group. So, if you could, would you mind giving it a proper assessment? Freekra (talk) 03:48, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

 Done by Pyrotec in Jan 2010. Thparkth (talk) 01:13, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

• Valentin Naboth I have recently updated this article, and added it to the History of Science. I would appreciate an assessment JdH (talk) 18:05, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

 Done by Pyrotec in December 2010. Thparkth (talk) 01:16, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

• James Watt. Has been the subject of significant reorganization, citation and copyediting work over the last few years. Is it still C class? Thparkth (talk) 13:49, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

• Rudolf Virchow - significant improvements in organization and content.--Rudolf Hellmuth (talk) 11:17, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

• Virginia Minnich - thanks! Biochemlife (talk) 14:46, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

• If perchance the article Total internal reflection contains enough history to warrant its inclusion in this WikiProject, a detailed submission on its rating may be found on its talk page. — Gavin R Putland (talk) 02:10, 21 May 2019 (UTC).

• Connaught Laboratories - newly created article. Thanks! Utl jung (talk) 15:26, 13 June 2019 (UTC)

• A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity - semi-newly created article. It was assessed by other projects in an earlier stage of development but this project was recently added with no assessment. Thanks!Footlessmouse (talk) 20:14, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

• God's Philosophers This article was assessed as stub-class in 2009 but I have been improving it for the past month. I believe it's ready to be assessed. ThanksBarbarianhamish (talk) 01:05, 24 May 2022 (UTC)

Assessment log

The full log of assessment changes for the past thirty days is available here. Unfortunately, due to its extreme size, it cannot be transcluded directly.