User:RexRowan/Turnbull Thomson Park/notes

This is work space to work on User:RexRowan/Turnbull Thomson Park

Item #1: Land managed by Environment Southland

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From the first place I saw a citation, the article says: "A section of land managed by Environment Southland is in the middle of the reserve next to the railway line on south of Mary Street. Another piece forms a boundary to the reserve in the north west - next to the Mitre 10 Mega Store and Harvey Norman complex."<ref>Invercargill (N.Z.). City Council. Parks Administration, Turnbull Thomson Park: Management Plan : March 2008, Invercargill City Council, 2008.</ref>

From the source: "A parcel of land managed by Environment Southland can be found in the middle of the reserve adjacent to the railway line (south of Mary Street). Another piece of Environment Southland land forms a boundary to the reserve in the north west - adjacent to what is currently the Mitre 10 Mega Store and Harvey Norman complex."
Comments:
  • This is very WP:Close paraphrasing, a form of copyright violation, because: 1) there is just a replacement of a few words, but essentially the sentences are written as the author had written them, 2) they follow in the same order in which they were written.
  • There are a couple of ways to work on this 1) find more information from other sources to rewrite this section and expand on the information or 2) rewrite the sentences. Either way, the sentences have to be rewritten.
  • When rewriting, one thing to consider is - how much of this information is needed. For instance, do we need to know that it's next to a Mega Store - or do we basically just need to know where it is in relation to a particular town, landmark, etc. It may be enough to say that there are two parcels of land, one in the center of the reserve and another in the northwest corner of the reserve (switching the order of the two).
  • This prompts a question for me: why is it just these parcels that they are responsible for - answering that might be helpful in rewriting the sentences.

Would you like to take a stab at rewording the sentences, after having decided how much information should be in the article - and whether you want to fold in any additional information? (By the way, this is something I struggle with every day - how not to have sentence sound like it's just a minor paraphrase of the content. When someone brought it to my attention in my early writing days here, I rewrote the WP:Close paraphrasing article last year to make the points clearer for myself and others)

One tool is to start with an outline of the key points:

  • Environment Southland manages land in and adjacent to the reserve
  • One is in the center of the reserve
    • near the railway line
  • Another "forms a boundary to the reserve in the north west"

Item #2: Maintenance checks

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Article: "Children's playground equipments are given a monthly maintenance check and every six month a safety check by the city council to meet the New Zealand Safety Standard for Playgrounds."<ref name=council/> Source: "All playgrounds and play equipment in the Invercargill District shall be given a monthly maintenance check and a six monthly safety check to ensure all pieces of equipment are maintained to a safe standard and meet the current New Zealand Safety Standard for Playgrounds."

Outline:

  • Playground equipment checked
    • monthly
    • six months
  • ensure proper maintenance and safety checks
  • meet New Zealand Safety Standard for Playgrounds

Comments:

  • Yep, this is better - there's elimination of some words that aren't needed. Yeah, one step closer!
  • The words still flow in basically the same order, though, - and use some of the same words that may not be needed (e.g., given, monthly maintenance check, six month safety check.
  • It's just personal opinion about whether "monthly maintenance check" and "six month safety check" need to stay worded that way - it's just that the more that you can get across the basic points (they ensure safety is met and follow the standards) without using the author's words, the better.
  • Do you think want to take a stab at rewriting the sentence the way you think it should be written to get the basic points across?

Note: Worm may know this, I don't - it may be that NZ Municipal Park documents are not copyrighted - and you can use close paraphrase. I still invite you to try to reword to get just the information that is needed for the article - and as a good practice since most sources have copyright issues.--CaroleHenson (talk) 17:55, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Thank you for the tips Carole. I merged all the points together to form a paragraph and cut the specific time interval of checks and mention routine checks instead. --RexRowan(Ninja signal) 08:10, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
I've no reason to think that they are not copyrighted - it's always best to assume that they are. WormTT(talk) 08:57, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Item #3

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1st half

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  • Article
3a "The main entrance to the park is off Lindisfarne Street, with many other open access points."
  • Source - page 9 section 1.2
3a The park is well served for access. Lindisfarne Street provides the main street frontage however there are a number of key access points for user groups accessing their facilities and informal access points for the public.
  • Comment: I think this is a good summary, eliminates unnecessary information and isn't all in the same order. The only suggestion is to use another term for access points - like "places to enter" or entry synonms. Other than that, I think it's good - it definitely gets the point across with fewer words!
Ok, done, changed into open entrances. --RexRowan(Ninja signal) 08:13, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

2nd half

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  • Article
3b "The entire area is roughly divided into four main sections by Lindisfarne Street, South Island main trunk railway line and Otepuni Stream. It is roughly bounded by four different streets, on the north is Tay Street, on the west is Elles Road, on the east is Inglewood Road and on the south is Tweed Street. <ref name=council/>"
  • Source - page 9 section 1.1
3b The reserve is roughly divided into four segments dissected by Lindisfarne Street running north-south, with the South Island main trunk railway line and Otepuni Stream running east-west. Otepuni Avenue and a band of industrial sections increase the separation of the two eastern portions. Broadly it is bounded by Elles Road, Tay Street, Inglewood Road and Tweed Street.
  • Question: What is your opinion about this: does it seem to be in the author's voice? does it properly reword the information? is there any information that's not needed?--CaroleHenson (talk) 18:15, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
Thanks Worm! I just realized I had been putting them in the wrong place.--CaroleHenson (talk) 18:20, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
Yes, I am a bad offender, hehehe. Hope this sounds better The main entrance to the park is off Lindisfarne Street, with many other open entrances next to the roads. The park is bounded by four roads on the outskirt and divided by Lindisfarne street and the railway line in the middle into four parts. --RexRowan(Ninja signal) 08:35, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
What do you think about: The main entrance to the park is off Lindisfarne Street. The park is divided by Lindisfarne street and the railway line into four sections.
Now that I see the revised sentences and think about it - if you mention the main entrance, then it's implied that there are other entrances.--CaroleHenson (talk) 12:44, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
That is a very good logic, sure! :D --RexRowan(Ninja signal) 12:59, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Sources

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