Talk:COVID-19 Contact Tracing
Hi Medha! For starters, the topic you chose for your Wikipedia article is very relevant and I look forward to seeing the complete version since it seems very interesting, especially when viewed through an ethical lens. It’s still coming along when it comes to length and hasn’t reached 3,000 words but the outline frame you have in place looks like it’ll be around the right length once you have everything filled out and you have around 549 words already if the word counter I pasted the article into after copying it from the wiki is to be trusted.
In terms of structure, it looks like you hit all the major components and your article has an outline in place that will include an opening summarizing paragraph, a body sectioned into a few different categories, and a list of your cited sources. Some areas where you could improve in terms of structure would be the formatting of the sources by having the links be active and formatting the in-text citations to link directly to the source with a number (ex: [1]), following the formatting used on other Wikipedia articles. I also think you could add another category to your body section explaining the history/background of the contact tracing is in broad terms to give your reader some basic background information before diving into the specifics. This would also be a good addition to reach the required word count.
From what you have so far, I think the clarity of your article is pretty good! The reader gets a bird’s eye view of the overall issue you will be addressing from the start which sets us up nicely for when you get into the specifics of the steps of the contact tracing process. The ethical issues are very clear since they’re in a section of their own in the body and your point about privacy comes through loud and clear in your section, especially when you use the relevant real-world examples to convey the importance of how governments handle maintaining the privacy of its citizens while also protecting the public health of the population at large.
When it comes to objective reporting, the article could be improved. In terms of the overview section, it would be a good idea to include some sources for the following claims to avoid a biased perspective in your article: “COVID-19 brought the world to a halt” “Masks and contact tracing were two solutions that were explored to curb the spread of the virus” “contact tracing proved to be a way to keep tabs on the spread” “When done effectively, contact tracing can significantly slow the spread of COVID-19.” The section about the ethical issues also doesn’t read objectively. It reads like you’re trying to be persuasive and lacks a lot of sources for different opinions, making them seem like they are opinions of your own. It also seems very skewed towards one nation’s perspective which also takes away from the objective tone of the article. Rather than addressing different sides of the ethical concern and citing where those different sides come from, it sounds more like you are trying to puzzle out where you think your country should stand on an ethical concern you personally have. In addition to adding some more sources and restructuring it around those sources, I think the tone of the ethical concerns section of your wiki article would be significantly improved if, rather than moving the paragraph along by asking the reader questions related to the issue, you instead just plainly state an issue and then list the different opinions people have on said issue.
That’s all the feedback I have for you, overall it looks interesting and I think the end product will be very informative!
