Talk:Gunpowder artillery in the Middle Ages/GA1

GA Reassessment

This article has been reviewed as part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Good articles/Project quality task force in an effort to ensure all listed Good articles continue to meet the Good article criteria. In reviewing the article, I have found there are some issues that may need to be addressed.

Although I think the prose certainly could use more polishing and the references have to be properly formatted (see below), the real problem here is the outstanding ^{[citation needed]} tags. Some where already here and some I added, but all have to adequately addressed before the article is good enough to pass as a GA. Once this is dealt with, this article will pass.

I will check back in no less than seven days. If progress is being made and issues are being addressed, the article will remain listed as a Good article. Otherwise, it may be delisted (such a decision may be challenged through WP:GAR). If improved after it has been delisted, it may be nominated at WP:GAN. Feel free to drop a message on my talk page if you have any questions, and many thanks for all the hard work that has gone into this article thus far. Regards, Jackyd101 (talk) 13:54, 12 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Citations

The internet inline citations used in this article are improperly formatted. Internet citations require at the very least information on the title, publisher and last access date of any webpages used. If the source is a news article then the date of publication and the author are also important. This information is useful because it allows a reader to a) rapidly identify a source's origin b) ascertain the reliability of that source and c) find other copies of the source should the website that hosts it become unavaliable for any reason. It may also in some circumstances aid in determining the existance or status of potential copyright infringments. Finally, it looks much tidier, making the article appear more professional. There are various ways in which this information can be represented in the citation, listed at length at Wikipedia:Citing sources. The simplest way of doing this is in the following format:

<ref>{{cite web|(insert URL)|title=|publisher=|work=|date=|author=|accessdate=}}</ref>

As an example:

<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discovery.org/a/3859|title=Avoiding a Thirty Years War|publisher=www.discovery.org|work=[[The Washington Post]]|date=2006-12-21|author=Richard W. Rahn|accessdate=2008-05-25}}</ref>

which looks like:

Richard W. Rahn (2006-12-21). "Avoiding a Thirty Years War". The Washington Post. www.discovery.org. Retrieved 2008-05-25.

If any information is unknown then simply omit it, but title, publisher and last access dates are always required. I strongly recommend that all internet inline references in this article be formatted properly. If you have any further questions please contact me and as mentioned above, more information on this issue can be found at Wikipedia:Citing sources. Regards

Sentences Removed needing citations

"Fire lances", gunpowder-propelled arrows, were used in China from at least 1132^{[citation needed]}. The first documented record of artillery with gunpowder propellent used on the battlefield was on January 28, 1132 when General Han Shizhong of the Song Dynasty used escalade and Huochong to capture a city in Fujian. In 1221, cast iron bombs thrown by hand, sling, and catapult were mentioned. The Chinese of the Song Dynasty began to load gunpowder inside thick bamboo to be used as a projection firearm, firing clay pellets like a shotgun in c. 1249.^{[citation needed]}

Bacon also described firecrackers, "used in certain parts of the world".^{[citation needed]} Bacon's mixture resembles the assumed composition of Chinese slow-burning powder as used in fire arrows and rockets, but would probably not function well as cannon gunpowder - the saltpeter content is too low.^{[citation needed]}

Hand guns were probably in use at this time, with Italian scopettieri ("gun bearers") mentioned in conjunction with crossbowmen in 1281.^{[citation needed]}

At the siege of Niebla, it was reported that Almohad defenders used machines which projected stones and fire accompanied by thundering noises.^{[citation needed]}

Hand cannon or hand cannon-like devices were reported to be employed against the Mongols in 1260 and in 1304, and an unattributed manuscript also depicted fire arrows and long-handled handguns.^{[citation needed]}

By 1340, light cannon were widespread enough in the Islamic world to end up in military inventories.^{[citation needed]}

The Ottoman Turks first used cannon against a Crusader army in Kosovo in 1389, but there are some records that Seljuk Turks used cannon against Mongols at the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243.^{[citation needed]}

Difference --Grimhelm (talk) 18:56, 12 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not enormously happy with the hiding of unsourced points, but I don't think anything that has been removed reduces the comprehensiveness of the article. There is however one ^{[citation needed]} tag you either missed or are looking for a citation for, so I won't pass until that is dealt with at least.--Jackyd101 (talk) 11:31, 13 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have replaced the culverin section with better, sourced material. --Grimhelm (talk) 02:01, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Can the online sources please be properly formatted, as described above?--Jackyd101 (talk) 14:55, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Done. --Grimhelm (talk) 20:01, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]