Talk:Texas State University/GA3

GA Review

Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch

Reviewer: North8000 (talk · contribs) 22:39, 3 November 2012 (UTC) I picked this article for review because it has been the 2nd longest on the waiting list. After my first read it looks pretty good. Will review it more thoroughly shortly. North8000 (talk) 22:39, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

In the lead there is quite a claim: "making Texas State the only university in Texas to have a President of the United States as an alumnus" This is not in the body of the article and is unsourced and is the type of claim that should be sourced. Do you have a source available for this? North8000 (talk) 22:48, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

 Done I added a sentence to Johnson's paragraph in the Alumni section on this so that it is mentioned outside of the lead. I've sourced it with a page from Texas State's website (who loves to point out this fact) and site that lists the universities that all US presidents have graduated from. Let me know if you see anything else that needs fixing. And thanks for reviewing the article for me. -TreyGeek (talk) 01:35, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

Happy to do it. North8000 (talk) 02:17, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

Resolved North8000 (talk) 02:15, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

I spot checked and in that sampling found a high incidence of text copied directly from the University's material. Anything copied directly should identified a quote with a cit. Better yet, write / summarize it in your own words. I don;t know how I'd suggest to best tackle this (maybe you know what came from where) but these types of things need to get identified and fixed. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 02:15, 4 November 2012 (UTC)(struck) North8000 (talk) 16:43, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

Can you provide some examples for me? At one point in time this entire article was a copy/paste (copyvio) of text from the University web site. I've tried to rewrite practically the entire article over the last few years. I thought I had caught everything, but I suppose I could have missed something or in rewriting accidentally made too close a paraphrase. Since I thought I had caught everything one or two examples would help me out, thanks. --TreyGeek (talk) 02:44, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

When I went back and checked closer I found that the other material was in mirrors that didn't look like mirrors and which looked like university material. So I struck my comment...sorry for my error. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 16:42, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

• The paragraph /sentences "Texas State has a Greek System which encompasses multiple national councils. Active councils and chapters at Texas State are:" is not communicative/ understandable to a general reader. It apparently requires some context or other knowledge to understand what it is saying. Should be more-explained / clarified. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 16:57, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

I attempted to clarify the sentences, but I'm not sure I succeeded. --TreyGeek (talk) 03:33, 6 November 2012 (UTC)

Looks good. Resolved. North8000 (talk) 11:23, 6 November 2012 (UTC)

• Considering the level of detail given to some areas, it seems somewhat of an omission to not cover all of the name changes. I believe one previous name (Southwest Texas State University) is not covered at all (except in the info box and in passing under an alumni) and for a second there is no coverage of acquiring the name (Southwest Texas State University ), only of its retirement. Suggest adding a bit in history regarding the acquisition of these names. North8000 (talk) 17:23, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

One of the frustrating things about writing the history section of the article was how little information there is on some parts of the school's history. (Even the campus library has an open plea for historical documents.) I'll see what I can do about drudging up some information about the various names (I think a couple of them are covered in a Masters Thesis that is already cited in the article. Will have to re-read it.) I probably won't get to doing that until Wednesday though. --TreyGeek (talk) 03:33, 6 November 2012 (UTC)

Cool. But if it ends up that the information is simply not available, (or not feasibly available) then that is not a fault of the article. IMHO then it might be good to just note the change TO those names in the body text (without details or dates) in the text for flow / continuity. It looks like there is sourcing for what names existed in what sequence. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 11:29, 6 November 2012 (UTC)

If, IYO (In Your Opinion :) ), simply stating that "Southwest Texas State Normal School became known as Southwest Texas State Normal College in 1918" would be sufficient for GA status (assuming it is properly sourced for each name change) then that is an achievable task. I'm thinking about the next step in explaining the difference between 'School' and 'College' as well as the reasoning for subsequent name changes that I'll find challenging to explain with well sourced references. Again, this this is something I can tackle tomorrow night at the earliest but if a brief mention of the name changes is acceptable (as opposed to more in depth reasoning for the changes) then I think it is something I can accomplish sooner than later (meaning mid-week vs weekend). --TreyGeek (talk) 03:19, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

If the specific information were available, I would say that the article really should have it in there, and that was my guess at the time I wrote the comment. Now, knowing that such is not the case, everything else that I said is just a suggestion and not needed to pass. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 11:25, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

I've taken the last paragraph discussing the most recent name changed and expanded it to include all name changes. I've added details and explanations where my first re-reading of a few sources provided them. The middle name changes don't have a good explanation, but might be mentioned in another (rather long) book with some historical information. I'll get to that when I have a chance in the next few days, but at least the name changes are now mentioned somewhere other than the infobox. --TreyGeek (talk) 03:41, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

 Done I've done what I could to expand the paragraph and add reasoning for the name changes. I don't expect to be making additional changes to this paragraph as I can't find any additional information for it. --TreyGeek (talk) 18:23, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

• The term "Normal School" is at the heart of a sentence stating the status of the school. The term is introduced as if it is self-explanatory There is nothing that defines the term which is important in the contest of the article. Suggest clarifying or linking. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 17:27, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

I linked it - resolved. North8000 (talk) 17:30, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

• Few or no images have alt text. I'll need to check whether this is a GA requirement or not, but suggest adding. North8000 (talk) 13:11, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

  I checked and this is not a GA criteria. North8000 (talk) 18:32, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

It's still a good point (GA criteria or not) and one I can easily resolve (but not tonight). --TreyGeek (talk) 03:41, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

 Done All images now have alt tags. --TreyGeek (talk) 18:23, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

Start final review by GA criteria

Well-written

Meets criteria North8000 (talk) 13:14, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Factually accurate and verifiable

Meets criteria North8000 (talk) 03:21, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

Broad in its coverage

Meets criteria North8000 (talk) 13:14, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without bias, giving due weight to each

Meets criteria North8000 (talk) 13:17, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute

Meets criteria North8000 (talk) 13:17, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Illustrated, if possible, by images

• Good amount of useful images North8000 (talk) 13:06, 7 November 2012 (UTC)
• All non-free images have article-specific rationales North8000 (talk) 13:06, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

Meets criteria North8000 (talk) 13:06, 7 November 2012 (UTC)

This article passes. I will implement the details shortly. As discussed at TreyGeek's talk page, we decided on a bit of a delay.

Nice work! North8000 (talk) 15:59, 18 November 2012 (UTC) Reviewer