Talk:Andrew Sledd/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Ironholds (talk) 14:20, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Lead and infobox

• "Occupation" normally refers to his job; so minister and academic, for example. There should be a | employer = field available for the infobox, which you can use for institutions where he worked. See the full Template:Infobox person if there are any other fields you can fill there.

 Done Added major employers. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• The lead is a summary of the article as a whole, and as such should contain some detail on his early life and education

 Done Expanded lead paragraph to include brief synopsis of each headlined section. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• Can you find an alternative word for "served"? It's used twice in two successive sentences.

 Done Eliminated repetitive word choices. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• You've referenced one point in the lead; leads should be either entirely referenced or entirely unreferenced. There is an exception for quotes (which must always be referenced), but not quotes of this type.

 Done Eliminated citations from lead paragraph and re-ordered footnotes. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Early life and education

• "In 1888, Sledd entered Methodist-affiliated Randolph-Macon College located in Ashland, Virginia" - "In 1888, Sledd entered Methodist-affiliated Randolph-Macon College, located in Ashland, Virginia"

 Done Inserted comma. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• Randolf-Macon is a college, but you've identified him as the "school's outstanding athlete". Since "school" normally refers to either an institute of primary education or a faculty within a university/college, can I suggest using "college's" or similar?

 Done Usage is now consistent. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• "Sledd left school without finishing his degree requirements to accept a position" - confusing, since it looks at first glance like he left school without finishing the degree requirements necessary to accept a position. Again, "school".

 Done Usage is now consistent. FYI, he did leave Randolph-Macon without completing his B.A. to accept the principal position. In the late 1800s, a college degree was not a prerequisite for secondary school positions. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• "After teaching in Arkansas for two years, he returned to Randolph-Macon, and completed his bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees simultaneously in 1894.[4] After" - two afters. Can I suggest "After teaching in Arkansas for two years, he returned to Randolph-Macon, and completed his bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees simultaneously in 1894.[4] Following his graduation, he was ordained as a Methodist minister"

 Done Agreed. Suggestion implemented. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• Is it worth capitalising the degrees? master of arts becomes Master of Arts, for example

I tend to err on the side of not capitalizing words unless they are proper nouns. More common on your side of the pond to capitalize more. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• "While he was at Harvard, he played for the college's baseball team and was remembered as one of Harvard's greatest athletes of his era" - suggest a replacement for the "his" in "his era". Again, is it appropriate to claim he played for the College's team when he was at a university?

 Done Agreed: ". . . the era." Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Scholar and educator

• "The idealistic young minister was outraged" - too short for a standalone sentence. I suggest merging it into the preceding or succeeding sentence.

I actually think the short declarative sentence is fairly dramatic and makes its point. Unless you have a major objection, I would like to leave it as is. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• "The Negro: Another View," - unless the title contained a comma, it should be "The Negro: Another View",

This is an example of American vs. British punctuation. On this side of the Atlantic, periods and commas (other than semi-colons, oddly) are placed inside the quote marks. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• The Southern University section is too short to have its own section. I suggest merging it somewhere.

 Done Peer review made similar comment. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• "In 1914, Sledd returned to the renamed Emory University" - link Emory University.

 Done Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

• Link American Standard Version

 Done Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Legacy

• "Sledd died deep in debt, having lost the family home to foreclosure when the salaries of Candler professors were cut when financial support of the school was reduced" - "Sledd died deep in debt, having lost the family home to foreclosure after the salaries of Candler professors were cut when financial support of the school was reduced"

 Done Agreed. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2010 (UTC)