User:MechelleCabral/sandbox

Evaluation of Article

Everything in the article is relevant to the topic Women in STEM. The first section discusses women broadly in STEM while the following sections (Gender Imbalance in STEM, Effects of Underrepresentation in STEM, and Women and Men's Earnings) were more specifc to the topic. The article seems neutral over all but has parts that seemed a little bias, as if it were edited by more women than men. This may be true due to the topic being Women in STEM. For example, the wording seems biased at times but this may not be intentional. I am reading and not actually speaking to the editors so things can be interpreted differently. Also, I am not very educated in the topic, therefore what may seem as bias to me may very well be fact. The section Gender Imbalance was greatly presented but I believe this is within reason. There is plenty to discuss about gender imbalance in the STEM field. I am in the school end of the STEM field and it is highly imbalanced. In all of my core courses there have been more males than females. The imbalance even goes further when you check the statistics as to how many of them actually graduate. There are far more males graduating in the STEM field than females. All of the links worked and seem to credible. There are plenty of references also cited within this article, as well as the links attached to it. There are over one hundred references which shows the time and diligence put into editing this article. The references include well reputable academic and professional journals. These are both medical journals, technological journals, statistical journals, and psychology journals. For example, The International Journal of Science Education. Other reputable sources include well renowned newspapers and websites. For examples, The Times, Harvard University Press, the University of California Los Angeles, and Forbes.com. There are also many references of national associations. For example, The National Teachers Science Association, UNESCO, The National Science Association, United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, and National Psychology Association. References may have seemed biased at times but many do not state whether males or females have written them. Therefore, I am not know if the reference is biased, it is up to my interpretation of their work. The majority of the facts are correctly referenced minus a few. This may also be due to my lack of correct and knowledgeable citations. Sometimes there is a grey area as to what is fact and what is common knowledge (which does not need to be cited). As for the dates of this article, their were well over one hundred references and many of them were from the past ten years (which I consider up to date). Although, about half of them were from the early 2000's or before. Some of the earliest references date back to the 1980's, quite a while ago. I do appreciate the fact that the references have a large range of dates. I believe the older references show that this topic has been around for decades, which is a good thing. They show that there were professional journals and articles discussing "Women in STEM" and that is still a notable topic to be discussed today. One of the most overlooked of these reasons as to why women leave STEM fields is the struggle to balance family and work. When I was reading the article Women in STEM fields I was anticipating a section that discussed why most women don’t extend their education in STEM fields or strive to achieve a professional career in STEM fields. I was specifically looking for the struggle of balancing a family and a career in STEM fields. As I read I came across the section titled “Explanations for low representation of women” and thought there must be something that touches on what I am looking for. Sure enough there was, but only a sentence. As for additions: reasons as to why there is a struggle in the first place, which unlike society states it is not because of the woman. Also needing to be discussed are a few things missing that would really help women become more successful.