User:Niortega/MiltonMeltzer PeerReview

Peer review: Milton Meltzer

General info

Whose work are you reviewing? (User:ParkerHeustess)

Link to draft you're reviewing: User:ParkerHeustess/Milton Meltzer

Lead evaluation: The lead has not yet been updated to reflect new content, including information regarding Meltzer’s receipt of additional noteworthy awards. The existing introductory sentence satisfactorily describes the article’s topic. There are existing indirect mentions of the article’s components (“author best known for his history nonfiction books” and “leading author of history books in the children’s literature and young adult literature genres”), which could be read as a description of the “Writing & Awards” section. The current version of the lead is concise and does not contain information not available in the article.

Content evaluation: The added content significantly contributes to the article’s completeness and provides excellent scope for the author’s contributions as a writer along with his personal life. Added content appears to be up to date, but it is unclear if additional works about Meltzer have been published in 10 years since his death (all works are from the early 2000s, except for the obituaries).

The “Works” section is not current. There are titles missing from the early 2000s, including the last work before the author’s death. It could be of use to add a photo of the author, if an appropriately licensed work is obtainable. This would provide additional contextual information to readers.

There is no mention of why Meltzer is so well known for his contributions to historical nonfiction children’s and young adult literature in the lead section and elsewhere in the article. For example, was Meltzer well known because of the way he presented content, or did he have a specific recognizable style? Perhaps this information is not available, but if it is, this would be helpful information to add.

Tone and balance evaluation: Added content is neutral and is unbiased. It seems like added content disproportionately addresses Meltzer’s work with Langston Hughes. There should be a mention of Meltzer’s contributions with other authors (if any) to reflect the scope of Meltzer’s work with other professionals in the field. No content attempts to persuade the reader towards or away from any opinion.

Sources and references evaluation: A few of the references have been modified to offer more complete citation listings, which is helpful for users looking to link back to the works referenced in the article. New content is backed up by new reliable secondary sources.

It is unclear if there are additional works on the author; all added citations are from the early 2000s and it is possible there have been posthumous works published on the author. A cursory examination of works regarding the author shows existing biographies that could be referenced for additional information if accessible by the user, including the two autobiographical titles referenced in the title itself. A variety of links were checked, and all are in working order.

Organization evaluation: The organization of added content is well written and does not appear to have spelling or grammatical errors. The user updated the section on the author’s military career, when such service appears to be without significant distinction/recognition. It seems like this portion of the article could be condensed into the personal life section for additional streamlining. It would be useful to move the content regarding Meltzer’s work with Langston Hughes into the “Writing & Awards” section, as this content appears to be more of a reflection of Meltzer’s professional work than information regarding his personal life.

Images and Media: No images or media have been added at the time of this evaluation.

For New Articles Only: This section is not applicable because the user is editing an existing article.

Overall evaluation: The article is significantly more complete with the additional content. Current additions offer more context for the author’s earlier years (1930s) and offer information for the author’s collaborations with other well-known authors, such as Langston Hughes. It was useful to see a mention of where a collection of the author’s works is currently located. It was also helpful to see additional mention of Meltzer’s works beside the nonfiction titles for which he was more well-known (The Underground Man and Tough Times).

A cursory examination of added content and added citations shows that content draws too closely or is copied directly from linked sources and should reworded to better fit Wikipedia guidelines. It would be helpful if the user reexamined these links for such discrepancies. For example, existing content states: “After serving in the Army during World War II, Meltzer was a writer for the CBS radio broadcasting network and later a public relations executive for the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.” The user’s added citation (“7”) links to the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/books/25meltzer.html. Within this article, the following text is: “After serving in the Army in World War II, Mr. Meltzer was hired as a writer by CBS. Later, he worked as a public relations executive for a pharmaceutical company.”

Niortega (talk) 07:50, 17 November 2019 (UTC)