Talk:University of Miami/GA2

GA Review

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Reviewer: Nikkimaria (talk) 15:11, 24 October 2009 (UTC)~~~~ Hey all, I'll be reviewing this article for possible GA status. Cheers, Nikkimaria (talk) 15:11, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately, I'm declining to list the article at this time, due mostly to problems with WP:V. Nikkimaria (talk) 18:53, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Writing and formatting

• Contractions are not allowed outside of quotation marks
• Per WP:Lead, the lead section for an article of this size should be 3-4 paragraphs. The current lead IMO does not adequately summarize the article
• It seems to me that "Organization" and "Research" are usually independent of "Academics" in university articles. Is there a reason that this is not the case here? (fixed)
• Only links not included in the main article text should be in "See also" (fixed)
• Is "South Campus" a proper noun (i.e. official name with both words capitalized)? If so, the section heading should reflect that
• Information on the other campuses should come before student housing
  • all housing is on the Coral Gables campus. Racepacket (talk) 09:55, 16 November 2009 (UTC)
• "Student life and activities" should be shortened to "Student life"
• Given the content of the "Notable alumni" and "Notable faculty" sections, it would be reasonable to combine the two (fixed)
• Per WP:UNIGUIDE, student media should not appear in External links (fixed)
• Large portions of the article are written in colloquial and conversational language, in particular the History section
• "undergrade" -> "undergraduate"
• The article could use a general copy-edit to check for clarity and flow (done)
• All measurements need to have conversions for non-US readers (done)
• Likewise, non-US readers need an explanation for what a VA hospital is, and D.U.I should be spelled out or linked
• Be consistent in using "%" or "percent" (done)
• Avoid short one- to two-sentence paragraphs (fixed)
• "rennovate" -> "renovate"

Accuracy and verifiability

• About half of the cited sources are from the university itself or are affiliated with the university - should have more independent coverage - I agree that this is important but hard to implement. Racepacket (talk) 17:44, 21 November 2009 (UTC)
• The lead and the infobox give two different figures for number of students - which is correct? (fixed)
• From the numbers in the infobox, it would appear that they employ more than 14,000 faculty and full-time staff - the lead says over 13,000, the source says over 10,000. Which is correct?

• I think that the 10,000 may be non-faculty employees. Racepacket (talk) 03:26, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

• Citations needed for:

• The University's students represent all 50 states and 148 foreign countries.
• The University of Miami was chartered in 1925 by a group of citizens who believed an institution of higher learning was needed for the development of their young and growing community. The South Florida land boom was at its peak, resources appeared ample, optimism flowed, and expectations were high. Supporters of the institution believed that the community offered unique opportunities to develop inter-American studies, to further creative work in the arts and letters, and to conduct teaching and research programs in tropical studies. copyvio from umiami.edu website. Racepacket (talk) 23:04, 13 November 2009 (UTC)
• By the fall of that year, when the first class of 560 students enrolled at the University of Miami, the land boom had collapsed, and hopes for a speedy recovery were dashed by a major hurricane. In the next 15 years the University barely kept afloat. The construction of the first building on campus, now known as the Merrick Building, was put on hold for over two decades due to economic hard times. In the meantime, classes were held at the nearby Anastasia Hotel, with partitions separating classrooms, giving the University the short-lived nickname of "Cardboard College."
• Enrollment increased by more than 4,000 during his tenure, which ended in 1962.
• Historically, UM regulated female student conduct more than men's conduct with a staff under the Dean of Women watching over the women.
• The result was UM's first female commencement speaker, day care, and a Women's Study minor. Following the enactment of Title IX in 1972, and decades of litigation, all organizations, including honorary societies were open to women. The Women's Commission also sought more equitable funding for women's sports.
• The Stanford presidency saw increased emphasis on research, reorganization of administrative structure and construction of new facilities.
• In 1946, UM acquired the former Richmond Naval Air Station, in southwestern Miami, located 12 miles south of the main campus in order to accommodate the post-war increase in students. For two years the South Campus provided housing, dining and recreational facilities and classrooms for about 1100 students, mainly freshmen. From 1948 to present it has been used as a research facility and storage area
• There were nearly 20,000 applications for 2,000 slots in the fall 2008 freshman class. The mean SAT scores and high school GPAs for entering freshmen were the highest ever
• Sixty-six percent of UM students ranked in the top 10% of their high school class.
• UM separates the honorary aspect frequently associated with Board service by having a separate Iron Arrow Honor Society
• Combined holdings of the libraries include over 3.1 million volumes, 15,375 print serial subscriptions, 4 million microforms, and access to more than 42,800 e-journals and 479,000 e-books and databases.
• Over the past three decades, the football program has been named national champion more times (1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, and 2001) than any other Division I program. The football team was named in the AP Top 25 frequently during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s and many players are drafted into the NFL each year.
• The university signed a 25-year contract to play there through 2033.
• When the City of Miami, the stadium's owner, refused to rennovate the Orange Bowl, the University did not renew its lease, and the city tore down the stadium in March 2008.
• Since 1987, however, the Hurricanes have only played the Florida Gators four times on the gridiron (three times during the regular season and once for a bowl game in the 2004 Peach Bowl).

• Be very careful to avoid copyright infringement / plagiarism - a few sentences are copied almost verbatim from the university website. For example, compare "In July 1934, the University of Miami was reincorporated and the University of Miami Board of Trustees was established" (article) to "In July 1934, the University of Miami was reincorporated and the University of Miami Board of Trustees was established." (source)
• Web links should have access dates (and publishers whenever possible)
• Check formatting in references - a considerable number have doubled periods
• Refs that are included multiple times should be named using the multiple-ref formatting
• Page numbers should be included for PDFs (done)
• Refs 18, 19, 32, 34, 40, 72 are broken
• Note which refs require login/subscription

Broad

• Why do only two of the satellite campuses have subsections?

• Because the Richmond campus is adjacent to the South Campus although they resulted from different property acquisitions.

• The Research section could be expanded considerably (done)
• The Athletics section is too large in comparison to the rest of the article (done)
  • I agree and will try to consense it in light of separate Miami Hurricanes article. Racepacket (talk) 09:57, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Neutrality

• Problems with lack of encyclopedic tone in sections. For example, "The South Florida land boom was at its peak, resources appeared ample, optimism flowed, and expectations were high" sounds like a story or an ad.
• Should avoid advertising the university - present facts neutrally, avoid generalizations and opinons

• After a lot of work, I think that the excessive boosterism has been trimmed from the article. Racepacket (talk) 13:45, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Stability

• The revert warring seems to have died down considerably since this article was last reviewed, but incivility on the talk page continues.

Images

• The first image is a seal, not a crest, and is thus tagged incorrectly. Additionally, the source link is broken
• Source link is also broken for the logos in the infobox (fixed)
• The second image in the Libraries section would fit better elsewhere
• The source link for the source logo gives a different date for its first use than the article