Talk:Scott Joplin/GA1

GA Review
The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.''

Reviewer: Jezhotwells (talk · contribs) 22:58, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

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

Disambiguations: none found.

Linkrot: two found and fixed.

I aim to post a substantive review within 48 hours. Jezhotwells (talk) 23:04, 28 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Many thanks for starting this so promptly! Ben (Major Bloodnok) (talk) 07:25, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Checking against GA criteria

 * GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)


 * 1) It is reasonably well written.
 * a (prose): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):
 * The prose is not reasonably well written. It needs some serious copy-editing. Some examples from the first few sections below:
 * Joplin was given a rudimentary musical education by his musical family, Florence playing the banjo and singing, and Giles playing and teaching the violin to Scott, Robert and William; at the age of seven he was allowed to play piano in both a neighbor's house and at the home of an attorney while his mother worked Over complex sentence, also "musical - "musical" - poor word choice.
 * sometimes playing the classics for him along with describing the great composers.  Clumsy and ungrammatical.
 * it is possible he played his own compositions; biographer Curtis describes an eye-witness, Zenobia Campbell, recalling him playing his own compositions;  clumsy.
 * In the late 1880s, having performed at various local events as a teenager, Joplin chose to give up his only steady employment as a laborer with the railroad and left Texarkana to work as traveling musician. again very clumsy.
 * He was soon to discover that there were few opportunities for black pianists, however; besides the church, brothels were one of the few options for obtaining steady work. Again rather clumsy.
 * ''The March was described by one of Joplin's biographers as a "special... early essay in ragtime" "March" should not be capitalized here.
 * The College records were destroyed in a fire in 1925 again capitalization.
 * Inconsistency in spelling: US English would have "traveled" not "travelled"
 * Similar problems abound throughout.
 * The lead does not fully summarize the article, no mention of marriages, no summary of his legacy. Please check out WP:LEAD and apply.
 * Please get this copy-edited throughout. Articles should not be nominated until they meet the GA criteria.
 * 1) It is factually accurate and verifiable.
 * a (references): b (citations to reliable sources):  c (OR):
 * References such as #45 need author attribution.
 * Although the World's Fair was "not congenial to African Americans," needs direct attribution and citation, as do all quotations.
 * References appear to be RS. I assume good faith for off-line sources.
 * 1) It is broad in its coverage.
 * a (major aspects): b (focused):
 * His grave at Saint Michaels Cemetery in East Elmhurst was finally honored in 1974. How was "it honored"? Also needs a citation.
 * I think the section on Treemonisha could be covered better in a summary style. The Revival section also seems some-what over detailed.
 * 1) It follows the neutral point of view policy.
 * Fair representation without bias:
 * NPOV
 * 1) It is stable.
 * No edit wars, etc.:
 * Appears stable
 * 1) 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):
 * File:Scott Joplin, Garden City, KS, Museum IMG 5894.JPG has the wrong license. Other images check out.  Audio files check out.
 * 1) Overall:
 * Pass/Fail:
 * Having re-read the article several times, I feel that the prose problems prevent it from reaching GA status at this time. It really needs a thorough copy-edit and some application of summary style. This will take longer than a week. After that has been done I would suggest getting it peer reviewed before renomination. Jezhotwells (talk) 20:05, 29 October 2011 (UTC)