Talk:Restoration (Scotland)/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Hchc2009 (talk · contribs) 18:34, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

Well-written:

(a) the prose is clear and concise, respects copyright laws, and the spelling and grammar are correct;

• Capitalisation of "king" needs fixing in various places (see MOS:JOBTITLE for details).

   Done--SabreBD (talk) 19:31, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

• "Increasingly significant in this period was the emerging group of lairds, who were a merger of the barons and tenants-in-chief as feudal distinctions declined." - two bits here. "emerging" and "merger" are a bit similar...! More substantively, I think you need to either explain the links between "the nobility", "barons", "tenants-in-chief", "lairds" etc. in this paragraph, or simplify it somehow. I'm uncertain as written at the moment if the barons are nobility, if the lairds are etc.

   Done--SabreBD (talk) 13:25, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

• "Under the Commonwealth they had supplied the Justice of the Peace" - plural?

   Done--SabreBD (talk) 13:25, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

• "They also gained authority through the post of Commissioner of Supply, created in 1667, who collected " - the "who" doesn't seem quite right here

   Done--SabreBD (talk) 13:25, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

• " also benefited this groups," - mismatch

   Done--SabreBD (talk) 13:25, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

• "The overwhelming majority were in the Lowlands, where the kirk had more control, despite the evidence that basic magical beliefs were very widespread in the Highlands." - unclear if this evidence was contemporary, or is modern historical evidence?

  Not sure I understand the difference, all evidence is generated in the past and survives now.--SabreBD (talk) 13:25, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

  I wasn't sure if people in the 17th century had access to evidence that basic magical beliefs were very widespread in the Highlands, or if this fact had been discovered by modern historians, looking at evidence from the 17th century. Hchc2009 (talk) 18:07, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

• "Under the Commonwealth the English judges who took over the running of the legal system were hostile to the use of torture and often sceptical of the evidence it produced, resulting in a decline in prosecutions." - might need expanding a bit. I think many readers might not have known that torture was common in the Scottish judicial system at this time. You go back to torture later in the paragraph - possibly the bits could be combined? Also, I'm unsure if these are general prosecutions, or witchcraft prosecutions.
• "The loss of a royal court when James VI inherited the English and Irish thrones in 1603 and the hostility of the Kirk, meant that theatre had struggled to survive in seventeenth-century Scotland." - I'd have reversed this sentence, starting with the theatre bit, and then explaining the loss of a royal court.
• "that encouraged a move towards a more leisure-oriented architecture already adopted in continental Europe" - worth explaining what the other option was (i.e. are we comparing leisure-orientated architecture with, say, defensive architecture?)
• "including his sensitive portrait of William Bruce" - not sure what "sensitive" means in this context...
• "to paint images of 110 kings for Holyroodhouse" - minor, but what sorts of kings?
• " the foundation of a large number institutions that would be important in Scottish cultural and intellectual life." - "would be"... when?
• "with a lecture-based curriculum" - as opposed to?

(b) it complies with the manual of style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation.

Factually accurate and verifiable:

(a) it provides references to all sources of information in the section(s) dedicated to the attribution of these sources according to the guide to layout;

• Not a GA requirement, but in case you want to take the article further: the citation style in the references section isn't consistent; you've got some with publisher and location, some with just publisher etc.
• If you're taking it further, worth fixing the capitalisation on the titles as well
• Unclear why some volumes have page numbers mentioned, and not others; doesn't seem to be consistent.
• Brown, K. M.; et al., eds. - I'd expect the et al to be expanded out here to include their names. Hchc2009 (talk) 09:08, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

(b) it provides in-line citations from reliable sources for direct quotations, statistics, published opinion, counter-intuitive or controversial statements that are challenged or likely to be challenged, and contentious material relating to living persons—science-based articles should follow the scientific citation guidelines;

• " The act was structured in a similar way to the English Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660, it legislated for a general pardon with exceptions, but (like Cromwell's Act of Grace) it contained many more exceptions than the English act. The act did not reverse the provisions of any previous act passed by the same Scottish Parliament or the provisions of the Committee of Estates passed since August 1660. It explicitly mentions the forfeitures of "Archibald Campbell, late marquis of Argyll, Archibald Johnston, sometime called Sir Archibald Johnston of Wariston, John Swinton, sometime called of Swinton, James Guthrie, William Govan, John Home and William Dundas, James Campbell, sometime called of Ardkinglas and James Campbell, sometime called of Orinsay".[10][11]" - are you sure the citations here actually support the text? The two references are both primary sources and don't seem to back up the first part of the section. Hchc2009 (talk) 09:08, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

• No I am not, as I did not write that bit. Also it is not well written. I think I may need to find some recent reliable sources to replace this stuff (and the acts that are used as references), which would also resolve some of the citation problems you mention above.--SabreBD (talk) 18:54, 13 June 2016 (UTC)
  • It is proving very difficult to get to this level of detail. I am still working on it, but it may not be possible to have a section this size from secondary sourced.--SabreBD (talk) 08:58, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

(c) it contains no original research.

• None found so far. Hchc2009 (talk) 09:08, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Broad in its coverage:

(a) it addresses the main aspects of the topic;

(b) it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style).

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

• Appears neutral at this stage. Hchc2009 (talk) 08:03, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

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

• Stable. Hchc2009 (talk) 08:03, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

Illustrated, if possible, by images:

(a) images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content;

• File:Execution of the Rev. James Guthrie, Edinburgh 1661.tiff needs a US copyright tag. Hchc2009 (talk) 08:03, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

   Done--SabreBD (talk) 19:31, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

(b) images are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions.

• "William and Mary depicted on the ceiling of the Painted Hall, Greenwich." - not sure that this is a full sentence. Hchc2009 (talk) 08:03, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

  It is not. I removed the full stop.--SabreBD (talk) 19:31, 11 June 2016 (UTC)