Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Featured log/December 2008

December 2008 edit

  • This is four short sentences, each on referenced by the same source. Also, the manner in which the quotes is used is confusing, as it is not clear if some words is quoted because it is someone else's wording, or because it is a word being used as a word quote-use justification. —Mattisse (Talk) 16:58, 22 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Is it not over using a reference to cite the same source four times in a row in a short paragraph, as Chetham Society 1856 is in the first paragraph under "History", especially with no intervening citations? —Mattisse (Talk) 04:51, 22 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Over referencing? I didn't think such a thing was possible. Using the reference more than once in succession has no detrimental effect and reinforces that all the information came from the same source. Also, if someone were to introduce new information into the paragraph (with a source), it might give the false impression that the new source references all the information before it. Nev1 (talk) 12:32, 22 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Response - Yes, there is such a thing as over referencing. For example, I have seen this raised as a legitimate complaint by [[User:Tony1|Tony in the past. Referencing each sentence in a paragraph to the same source is over referencing. See the first paragraph under "History" quoted above. Footnotes are considered distracting to the reader, so using them unnecessarily is not desirable. Your reasoning would require a footnote after every sentence. —Mattisse (Talk) 16:58, 22 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm of the inclination of Nev1 too - I'd much rather see "over" referencing than have any kind of confusion of where a statement or factoid came from. Yes it can seem like overkill, but I don't think it's a bad thing for WP or our readers in this case or others. Indeed if this was an academic paper being submitted for assessment one wouldn't be marked down at all, quite the contrary. --Jza84 |  Talk  17:33, 22 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Plus, in this case a reference is required after every quotation. Nev1 (talk) 12:39, 22 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Response - Of course a reference is required after every quotation. The question is, why are there so many quotations that are not anyone's opinion and could be rephrased in the editor's own words. Is that not what writing an article for an encyclopedia about? Otherwise, writing an article for Wikipedia would just be a question of assembling quotations and sources.
Please see Tony's comments above, whose complaints I have reiterated:[69]
"Two quotes from refs that you've wound into the main prose just ahead of the ref numeral are a little forced; I can see that you want to verify that these were the actual words in the source, but perhaps it's good enough to drop the quotes from the single last word here: The geological diversity of Scout Moor, which weathers at different rates, has given it a landscape of "steep escarpments separated by sloping shelves", although the main dome of the moor is flat and "rounded".[4] No one will accuse you of plagiarism. Also, ref [4] appears here in four successive sentences; these are hardly contentious statements, so the earlier ones could be rationed."

Mattisse (Talk) 16:58, 22 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • The paragraph has been reworked and now only uses the same reference twice. I hope this is acceptable. Nev1 (talk) 21:40, 22 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
  1. ^ Armstrong, Neil (2008) "England and German Christmas Festlichkeit, c.1800–1914. German History 26 (4): 486–503
  2. ^ Ferguson, Henry (1999). "Body piercing". British Medical Journal 319: 1627–1629
  3. ^ Hemans' sister, Harriet Mary Browne Owen, in an 1840 biography
  4. ^ Pozdeev, Y. (1991). "Reliability comparison of tantalum and niobium solid electrolytic capacitors". Quality and Reliability Engineering International. 14 (2): 79–82. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1638(199803/04)14:2<79::AID-QRE163>3.0.CO;2-Y.
  5. ^ Biason Gomes, M. A. (1991). "Anodization of niobium in sulphuric acid media". Journal of Applied Electrochemistry. 21 (11): 1023–1026. doi:10.1007/BF01077589. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Chiou, Y. L. (1971). "A note on the thicknesses of anodized niobium oxide films". Thin Solid Films. 8 (4): R37–R39. Bibcode:1971TSF.....8R..37C. doi:10.1016/0040-6090(71)90027-7.
  7. ^ Azevedo, C. R. F. (2002). "Characterization of metallic piercings that caused adverse reactions during use". Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention. 2 (4): 47–53. doi:10.1007/BF02715453. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference VillageVoice was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Time was invoked but never defined (see the help page).