User:Mason C Bennett/sandbox

Style leads for Of One Blood:

Melodrama

Africanism

Magazine-writing/serialization and style

Scientific writing

Things to look for in good articles:


 * A lead section that is easy to understand
 * A clear structure
 * Balanced coverage
 * Neutral content
 * Reliable sources

Questions when peer reviewing:


 * Looking at the lead by itself, do I feel satisfied that I know the importance of the topic?
 * Looking at the lead again after reading the rest of the article, does the lead reflect the most important information?
 * Does the lead give more weight to certain parts of the article over others? Is anything missing? Is anything redundant?


 * Are the sections organized well, in a sensible order? Would they make more sense presented some other way (chronologically, for example)?


 * Is each section's length equal to its importance to the article's subject? Are there sections in the article that seem unnecessary? Is anything off-topic?
 * Does the article reflect all the perspectives represented in the published literature? Are any significant viewpoints left out or missing?
 * Does the article draw conclusions or try to convince the reader to accept one particular point of view?


 * Do you think you could guess the perspective of the author by reading the article?
 * Are there any words or phrases that don't feel neutral? For example, "the best idea," "most people," or negative associations, such as "While it's obvious that x, some insist that y."
 * Does the article make claims on behalf of unnamed groups or people? For example, "some people say..."
 * Does the article focus too much on negative or positive information? Remember, neutral doesn't mean "the best positive light" or "the worst, most critical light." It means a clear reflection of various aspects of a topic.


 * Are most statements in the article connected to a reliable source, such as textbooks and journal articles? Or do they rely on blogs or self-published authors?
 * Are there a lot of statements attributed to one or two sources? If so, it may lead to an unbalanced article, or one that leans too heavily into a single point of view.
 * Are there any unsourced statements in the article, or statements that you can't find stated in the references? Just because there is a source listed, doesn't mean it's presented accurately!

Style (Of One Blood)
Though recognized for its affiliation with twentieth-century Africanism, Pauline Hopkin's Of One Blood also employs concepts and meanings popularly associated to Haitian culture. The matrilineality of the novel's female characters Hannah, Mira, and Dianthe Lusk resonates with historical and mythologized Haitian perceptions of womanhood, and the preternatural abilities and practices displayed throughout the novel are significant to Haitian Vodou.

Sources (Of One Blood)
Tolliver, Cedric R. “The Racial Ends of History: Melancholic Historical Practice in Pauline Hopkins’s Of One Blood.” Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory, vol. 71, no. 1, 2015, pp. 25–52. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2015381179&site=ehost-live. XXX

Harris, Marla. “Not Black and/or White: Reading Racial Difference in Heliodorus’s Ethiopica and Pauline Hopkins’s Of One Blood.” African American Review, vol. 35, no. 3, 2001, pp. 75–90. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2001531848&site=ehost-live.