Talk:The Burnett Center

The Burnett Center was a Social sciences and society good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
August 28, 2010	Good article nominee	Not listed

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on May 15, 2010.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that The Burnett Center academic building at Washington & Jefferson College is adorned with cast iron fleur-de-lis balusters that were salvaged from the former Hays Hall dormitory?

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GA Review[edit]

This review is transcluded from Talk:The Burnett Center/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Jezhotwells (talk) 15:44, 28 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I shall be reviewing this article against the Good Article criteria, following its nomination for Good Article status.

Disambiguations: No dabs found

Linkrot: No dead links found. Jezhotwells (talk) 15:46, 28 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Checking against GA criteria[edit]

GA review (see here for criteria)

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):
The prose does not flow well.

Situated on the northeast border of campus, The Burnett Center is a cornerstone building. What is a cornerstone building?

This building, named after former President Howard J. Burnett,... Needs to made clear thaty is a university president not a US president.

...large vertical ribbon window assemblies,... Do you just mean large vertical windows?

The 12 multimedia classrooms come in sizes and styles,... Clunky

...and outlets for laptop computers.... Outlets? perhaps connections would be better?

At various times, it has also housed the entrepreneurial studies program, a small business institute, and an office of lifelong learning At various times - when?

The seminar rooms, located in the tower structure of the left side of the building, feature an 16-seat octagonal tables. ??

...57,000 square feet of floorspace... Should use conversion template for dimensions, using US units and SI units, Template:Convert.

The interior of the Burnett Center consists of cherry wood trim and doors, veneer plaster, wool carpet, and cove lighting Interior decoration or finishing.

To prepare the site for construction, the college acquired a number of demolition permits from the zoning board, including permits allowing for the demolition of several houses, including 314, 322 and 330 East Wheeling Street, which were part of the East Washington Historic District.[9][10] The permits also authorized the demolition of houses at 288, 290, 300, and 308 East Wheeling Street, as well as and 218, 218 1/2, 220, 290, and 300 Grant Street.[10] At the end of July, the zoning board issued a stay on those permits after hearing objections from the Washington County History and Landmarks Foundation.[9][10] By 1995, the permits were restored and the construction was able to proceed. So when was the original application?

Plans and fundraising for the building were performed by President Brian C. Mitchell, who served as President of the College from 1998 to 2004. Performed isn't the right word, maybe undertook. Surely an architect drew up the plans?

The building was designed by MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.[1] That firm was awarded the Louis I. Kahn Citation from the American School & University 2002 Design Competition, calling for Burnett "a striking edifice for the pursuit of academic excellence. That firm?

I find the prose carelessly put together, not near GA standard. Recommend you get a thorough copy-edit from an uninvolved editor.

The lead does not fully summarize the article, no mention of difficulty in obtaining permits for instance.
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
The article is adequately referenced, sources appear reliable, PDFs need page numbers.
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects): b (focused):
The article is focussed but not very broad in its coverage. Why was this built? Thee are indications that the usage of the building has changed - in what ways. As it stands much of this is sourced from an architect's web page. It needs fleshing out somewhat, opinions from people outside (and within) the university about, perhaps. I note that ref #11 mentions an historic building being moved to make way for the center. That is interesting and could be incorporated
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias:
It is stable.
No edit wars, etc.:
It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Overall:
Pass/Fail:

I believe that this artcile is not yet ready for GA status, the main concerns being the relatively poor quality of the prose and the lack of breadth. I recommend that you research more about the reasons why it was built, the history since 2001, the difficulties in getting permissions. A thorough copy-edit by the WP:Guild of copyeditors would help, and then I suggest you take it to peer review before renominating. Jezhotwells (talk) 16:45, 28 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]