Talk:Sigma Chi/GA1

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

Reviewer: María ( habla con migo ) 13:41, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Hello, I'll be reviewing this article for GA-status. I'm afraid it needs quite a bit of work before it's promoted, especially in regards to available sources, general lack of acceptable citations throughout, and broad coverage of the subject matter. Here is how it currently stands against the criteria:


 * 1) Well-written: Oftentimes not; see examples below
 * 2) Factually accurate and verifiable: No; see examples below
 * 3) Broad in its coverage: No; see below
 * 4) Neutral: Yes.
 * 5) Stable: Yes.
 * 6) Illustrated, if possible, by images: Yes.


 * Prose and MOS
 * There is a fair amount of wording issues throughout the article. A few examples from the top:
 * Each of the four sentences in the lead begins with "Sigma Chi". Vary it by using "the fraternity" or beginning with a verb instead of the subject.
 * Sigma Chi (ΣΧ) is one of the largest and oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities. -- should be noted that the organization is located in the United States.
 * The founding of Sigma Chi began as the result of a disagreement... - "Sigma Chi was founded after a disagreement..."
 * He was supported by five of his brothers, but four others (Caldwell, Jordan, Runkle, and Scobey) felt that he lacked the required poetic talent. -- Caldwell, et. al. are not introduced before this sentence, so these names mean nothing.


 * The lead does not give an overview of the entire article per WP:LEAD; a whole paragraph is dedicated to the society's colors and badge, while nothing is said about pledging, the fraternity's organization, leadership programs, literature, etc., etc.
 * Do not include external links ( Link name ) in the article's prose; there are several in the "Alumni chapters" section.
 * There are two different types of quotation boxes used in the "Constantine Chapter" subsection, with several others used in "Literature of Sigma Chi". These should be utilized consistently.
 * Improper use of dashes per WP:DASH throughout "Organization of the fraternity".


 * Content
 * I doubt that each of the seven founders require mini-biographies within the article, especially since they have separate articles of their own. Note the important facts that directly relate to Sigma Chi in prose form, not list format.
 * Pronunciation tools can be incredibly helpful, but I fail to see how it may be difficult to pronounce words like "consul" and "magister" in "Undergraduate chapter officers". Please see WP:PRON for proper pronunciation formatting.
 * Why does the fraternity's history stop after the "first half of the 20th-century"? What about the remaining sixty years, and the organization as it is now?  What about the 150th celebration, which is mentioned in the lead?
 * The "Notable 'Sigs'" section is empty; bring over some of the information from the branched out article (Notable Sigma Chi Alumni) to give an overview, much in the way that the Alpha Phi Alpha article does at Alpha Phi Alpha. The same can be said for "The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" and "Undergraduate chapters", both of which require summaries of the separate articles.

templates]] as a guide, and be sure to include publisher/website and the retrieval date.
 * References
 * There is currently one tag in the "Founding" section.
 * I doubt that the sourcing is truly comprehensive. There have been hundreds of publications printed by Sigma Chi itself, as well as numerous books about the history of fraternities in the United States.  Just a few searches at Worldcat confirms that there is a wealth of academic research out there for such an established organization.
 * There are entire paragraphs without citations, and even entire subsections; most of "Philanthropy" and "Literature", for example.
 * Citations go after the punctuation, not before it.
 * Many of the citations are not formatted properly, and are inconsistent from one another; consider using [[WP:CITET|citation
 * Per WP:IBID, op. cit. and similar terms are not used on Wikipedia; if someone inserts a citation between the two references in question, the op. cit. becomes incorrect.
 * Why are works such as "The History of Sigma Chi" page 49. The Norman Shield, 41st Edition and The Seven Founders: Isaac M. Jordan" page 35. The Norman Shield, 41st Edition not listed under the "References" section? Because they are referred to more than once, similar to Carlson, they could be treated the same way.

Because of the reasons listed above, and the belief that these concerns (especially sourcing and research issues) would take more than a week's time to address, I am failing the article at this time. Best of luck in improving it for a future nomination. María ( habla con migo ) 13:41, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Outside comment
Can I also add that it isn't really appropriate to be citing material published by the fraternity itself as a reliable source about its own activities. External reliable sources are needed. hamiltonstone (talk) 23:35, 6 April 2010 (UTC)