Welcome!

edit

Hello, Mackenziequinn16, and welcome to Wikipedia! My name is Ian and I work with the Wiki Education Foundation; I help support students who are editing as part of a class assignment.

I hope you enjoy editing here. If you haven't already done so, please check out the student training library, which introduces you to editing and Wikipedia's core principles. You may also want to check out the Teahouse, a community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to helping new users. Below are some resources to help you get started editing.

Handouts
Additional Resources
  • You can find answers to many student questions on our Q&A site, ask.wikiedu.org

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on my talk page. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 19:47, 12 September 2018 (UTC)Reply


Article Evaluation

edit

1)Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you? I believe everything in this article is related to this topic on earplug nicely. One comment I have is that the flight ear protection seems a bit irrelevant and doesn't need to include that "These can help passengers get to sleep during the flight if desired".

2)Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added? I think they could have included where to purchase custom molds and not just including that they need to be inspected by the Audiologist for proper fit on the patient. Health risks should be included at the bottom of the page for ease of use. I think information on training on where to get training on earplugs would be important to add. I think information regarding how effective earplugs are could be added to this article. Information on how deep to insert earplugs as well as how they should fit should be added to this site since many people on the talk page seem to be confused as well.

3)What else could be improved? I think that this article could be rearranged in a better way. I don't think it should start with protection from water but rather hearing protection. I also think that custom molds should be moved up in the order (underneath Musicians or Hi-Fi" earplugs). This article needs to include more on why people should use ear plugs and not just talk about the decibels it is attenuating. People need to know why they should be wearing them as far as anatomy of the ear and how it can damage hair cells.

4)Is the article neutral? Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? This article seems neutral in the way they presented their information. They do seem opinionated in regards to the in-ear monitors and that they really don't provide protection without giving much information to back it up.

5)Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? I think the viewpoints on Noise Reduction Ratings could be a little less. There seems to be too much information in this section that isn't directly relevant with the article. I think a brief description of NRR should be included but for the average reader this could be too much information.

6)Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article? There are a few citations that do not work and should be removed. Mostly 3M had a few errors. Also NIOSH links worked and proved support for materials in the article. A few of the other links were unrelated and could be taken out.

7)Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted? I wouldn't say that every fact is referenced appropriately but the majority of the facts do have proper citation. I think this article could be cleaned up in regards to reliable sources and links that work. A lot of the information comes from federal regulations, NIOSH, US Air Force, and Environmental Protection Agency, and a few articles. Most of these sources are neutral since they are fed regulations, but some are from articles that should be monitored.

8)What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? Some conversations going on behind the scene include finding statements within citations. Another noted that earplugs never work. One person mentioned that the musician ear plugs could be used for motorcyclists as well.

9)How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? This article is rated C. It is part of WikiProjects.

10)How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? Wikipedia doesn't discuss the benefits from using this type off protection. It should include a link to Noise Induced Hearing Loss rather than just protection. I think it could include not only the risks from wearing certain types of earplugs, but also the risks from not wearing them. More emphasis on why we should be using earplugs in everyday life should also be added to this article.