Talk:Blanche on the Lam

Blanche on the Lam was a Language and literature 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
December 3, 2011	Good article nominee	Not listed

Novels: Crime Mid‑importance

	Novels portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Novels, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to novels, novellas, novelettes and short stories on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and contribute to the general Project discussion to talk over new ideas and suggestions.NovelsWikipedia:WikiProject NovelsTemplate:WikiProject Novelsnovel articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by Crime task force.

Women writers Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Women writers, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of women writers on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Women writersWikipedia:WikiProject Women writersTemplate:WikiProject Women writersWomen writers articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Refrences

Hello Blanche on the Lam(ians)! Here is what i found by Scouring LiOn to help get you started: http://0-gateway.proquest.com.opac.sfsu.edu/openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&xri:pqil:res_ver=0.2&res_id=xri:lion-us&rft_id=xri:lion:rec:mla:R04174357 This looks to be a paper about the book by a Mildred Mickle

http://0-gateway.proquest.com.opac.sfsu.edu/openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&xri:pqil:res_ver=0.2&res_id=xri:lion-us&rft_id=xri:lion:ft:mla:R03592737:0 another paper by Rosemary Hathaway

you may want to search for "Why Standdpoint Matters" by Alison Wylie. The only way it is available through lion is through Link+ which may take a moment

I also recommend JStor and Project Muse for sources! Good Luck! — Preceding unsigned comment added by JHSlavin (talk • contribs) 20:01, 25 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the help!--Serena530 (talk) 05:49, 27 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Don't add empty sections

Per best practice, please don't add empty sections. For further information, please consult: Help:Wikipedia: The Missing Manual/Formatting and Illustrating Articles/Article Sections and Tables of Contents.

I've placed a backup copy complete with empty sections in User:Sarahdaly44/Blanche on the Lam. It is acceptable to add material that is under construction in your user space. Viriditas (talk) 04:03, 26 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Suggestions

Article is looking good. You need to clean up the introductory section - - Wikipedia has a good set of guidelines to writing lead sections. I think you could/should compress the plot summary. The Themes section also needs some work: I'd suggest changing title of first section to simply - - "Invisibility"; that first section needs some references added; the second section looks like a cut and paste of a couple of articles - - summarize and paraphrase to make a smooth paragraph/section. References for last item in Critical Reception. Profhanley (talk) 17:02, 15 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

GA Review

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

Reviewer: Maclean25 (talk · contribs) 20:15, 15 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Good article review (see Wikipedia:What is a good article? for criteria)

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):
Work on making the prose more concise. Work on the lead section.
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
See below.
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects): b (focused):
Expand on Background & Reception. Work on tightening the prose.
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):
One image used (File:Blanche on the Lam.png) with a valid Fair Use rationale.
Overall:
Pass/Fail: Hold
Comments:
I understand this is part of a class project: User:Profhanley/teaching/literature of labor. I will make minor edits to the article, as I see fit, but I will list major edits here for the editors to take care of. maclean (talk) 20:15, 15 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]
3(a) Add a "Background" section which describes where the book came from: who wrote it? when? why? For example, this appears to be Neely's first novel, at what point in her life did she write the novel? is there anything that made her qualified or motivated to write the novel? and any information on how it was written or published.

3(a) Expand the "Reception" section. This should include published opinions on what elements made the book good or bad.

Common publications (available online) that review books include Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Christian Science Monitor.

The article has only one wikilink of words beyond the introduction. Add more wikilinks to key words or concepts. Here is an example of how to add wikilinks: [1]

2(b) There are references to The Blues Detective and I Know What the Red Clay Looks Like in the text that are not followed through with citations.

2(c) The last paragraph of "Invisibility of Blacks, Laborers and Females" does not have a citation. Please add one to indicate where this information is coming from.

1(b) The lead section needs work. The lead should summarize the article (contain info from every section). Currently, the second paragraph is too broad with general statements about society and history. Keep it relevant or directly linked to the novel.

1(a)/3(b) The Good Article standard for prose quality is "clear and concise" (as well as free of errors). I do not find this writing to be concise. The plot section contains an unnecessary level of detail.

Examples on how the writing can be made more concise:

"There was a disturbance out in the hall and she took her chance to escape by slipping out of the restroom and making her way to the exit and out into the underground parking lot." → 'During a disturbance in the hallway, Blanche escapes to underground parking lot.'

"Blanche finds clues here and there and eventually learns that the Aunt Emmeline she saw sign the will was an impostor and that the real woman had been killed. After going over the clues she had and looking at what evidence she had already uncovered and seeing Grace again, she realized that she had been suspecting the wrong person of murder all along. Who would have thought sweet, believable, weary, frightened Grace would have been a serial killer?" → 'After finding clues and gathering evidence, Blanche deduces that Aunt Emmeline had been killed by Grace and that she had witnessed an imposter sign the will.'

Conclusion

I'm placing the review on hold. I will keep it on hold as long as the article is being actively worked upon. The most important aspect to work on is adding to the reception and background; with that in place I would feel comfortable about re-assessing it to B-class. Improvements to the writing quality, lead section, and citations will boost it from B to GA-class. It is often difficult to edit your own writing, and since Wikipedia is designed for collaborative work, it would really help to have a fresh set of eyes to help edit the writing. maclean (talk) 18:43, 16 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There has been little progress over the past two weeks. Due to the reasons noted above, this article does not meet the GA criteria. maclean (talk) 23:58, 3 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]