TITLE: expository papers related to quantum groups 
QUESTION [23 upvotes]: Hello all, 
I know basic representation theory(finite groups, lie groups&lie algebras) and I want to get a flavor of quantum groups (why they are useful, important results etc) and other related things like the Yang-Baxter equation. Can someone suggest me some good expository articles? Thank you.

REPLY [5 votes]: This is mostly meant as a reminder that the original question asks about articles and not books or research papers.    Of the latter there are a huge number by now.  The notion of "quantum group" has multiple aspects, not easily covered by a single exposition, but it's reasonable to look for a fairly brief guide to what is going on in the subject (and why).    Some of the lecture notes and other expositions mentioned here should be useful, at least within their own defined limits, but the large books such as Chari-Pressley and the research monographs such as Lusztig's book go far beyond the scope of "article".     (Jantzen's more introductory textbook on the other hand is a fairly elementary introduction to one important line of work, though not to all possible ones.)
There isn't actually a precise mathematical definition of "quantum group", which is definitely a problem with the kind of free-flowing discussion in the answers here.   Hopf algebra theory is more narrowly defined, but even here there are too many directions to encompass in a survey article or set of lecture notes.