Talk:Geography of Wisconsin/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Trainsandotherthings (talk · contribs) 18:38, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

Hi there, I'll be reviewing this article. Comments to come soon. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 18:38, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

General comments

• I recommend moving the order of sections so that "physical geography" and "human geography" are next to each other.
• Check for duplicate wikilinks - I see Michigan wikilinked twice in the Location and size section, and several terms linked in the lead are linked again in the body.
  • Generally, its helpful to repeat links in both lead and main section, see MOS:DL, but I have went through and removed the vast majority of duplicates.

Lead section

• "The state can be generally divided into five geographic regions—Lake Superior Lowland, Northern Highland, Central Plain, Eastern Ridges & Lowlands, and the Western Upland" Be consistent about using or not using "the" ahead of the region names.
  •  Done
• "Wisconsin is a state in the Midwestern United States." and "Wisconsin is the 23rd-largest state in the country." These quotes sandwich the first paragraph. It would make more sense to put them together. Consider rewording the first sentence as "Wisconsin, located in the Midwestern United States, is the 23rd-largest state in the country."
  •  Semi-done, I swapped the final sentences of both paragraphs, because i feel the protected areas fits better in the first. I rewrote the area sentence and combined it with altitude.
• In general, consider using the term Upper Midwest to describe Wisconsin's location.
  • Disagree slightly, I feel East North Central United States is a better descriptor. I've added it in and linked it.
    • I wasn't aware that term existed. That works as well.
• Some reviewers make a big deal about not wanting citations in the lead section. I don't particularly care, but you can consider removing some or all if the information is also listed and cited in the body.

Location and size

• "Of this area, just 17% of it consists of water, primarily composed of Lake Michigan, Superior, and the many inland lakes in Wisconsin." Remove "just" here, it doesn't make sense and takes away from the neutral tone of the article.
  •  Done
• "Wisconsin is located in the East North Central United States, and it is considered to be a part of the Midwest." The words "it is" can be removed here, I think.
  •  Semi-done, I feel like we still need the word "is" here
• "Wisconsin is bordered by the Montreal River, Lake Superior and Michigan to the north; by Lake Michigan to the east; by Illinois to the south; and by Iowa to the southwest and Minnesota to the northwest." Consider rewording along the lines of "Wisconsin's borders are defined by the Montreal River..."
  •  Done
• Rivers on the state's boundary are mentioned twice here. I am confused by the wording, are all of these rivers part of Wisconsin's state line? A rewording for clarity might be in order here.
  • I moved all rivers to the 2nd sentence. Should I keep them there or move them in the already long first sentence?
    • I think they are good now. As you mentioned, the first sentence is already long.

Human geography

• "Approximately 16 percent of Wisconsin residents live in Milwaukee County, with a majority of its residents living in the city of Milwaukee. Madison, located in Dane County, is the capital of Wisconsin. Dane County has 488,073 residents, making it the second-most populous." I am assuming that Milwaukee is the most populous county in the state, but the article never explicitly states this. Assuming I'm right about that, it would be best to outright state that Milwaukee County is the state's largest in population.
  •  Done You're right, Milwaukee county is the most populous. I've tweaked the sentence to explicitly say this.
• Additionally, using a percentage for one county and an absolute number for the next makes them harder to compare. I would add a percentage for Dane County, or have both be either percentages of the state's total population, or absolute numbers.
  •  Done
• "According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2020 Wisconsin had a population of 5,893,718. As of the 2020 census, the state ranked 27th in the United States in population density." The two mentions of the census seem redundant here, consider merging the two sentences to something like "As of the 2020 census, Wisconsin had a population of 5,893,718, and ranked 27th in the United States in population density."
  •  Done
• "Marathon County is the largest in area, having 1,544.91 square miles (4,001.3 km2). Marathon County contains the 45°N, 90°W point, one of four points that are halfway between both the poles and equator, and between both the Prime and 180th meridian." The second mention of Marathon County could be replaced by "The county" or "This county". Additionally, the sentence about its area is lacking a citation.
  •  Done
• Administrative divisions of Wisconsin says the state has counties, cities, towns, and villages. This article says that the state has counties, cities, and villages. Are towns a separate type of administrative division? If so, that should be included in this article.
  •  Done, you're right that towns are a separate type of division.

Climate

• "Wisconsin also receives a large amount of regular snowfall averaging around 40 inches (100 cm) in the southern portions with up to 160 inches (410 cm) annually in the Lake Superior snowbelt each year." Add a comma after snowfall, and another after portions.
  •  Done
• With the two charts for temperatures, plus the Köppen climate types map, this section feels very crowded. I believe that shrinking the size of the counties map would help with this. Also consider defaulting one or both of the charts to closed.
  •  Done Used a smaller county map, and defaulted the larger temperate chart to closed.
• I see a source for the monthly temperatures for Superior, but none for the other five locations.
• It took me a while to figure out if the top two temperatures in each column, or the left two in each column, were the Fahrenheit numbers. It might be a good idea to rework how the two units are listed in the title, as it might confuse the reader.
  • Should I remove the cities temperature chart? I don't particularly care either way, but I do agree it can be confusing at first.
    • I'll leave that up to you. You could either remove it or keep it. If it is kept, references for the temperature data for the other cities would need to be added.

Geographic regions

• According to Regions of Wisconsin, the method for dividing the state up into 5 regions was developed by Lawrence Martin (geographer). There are citations to his work in the regions of Wisconsin article, I suggest citing him for the beginning of this section where it talks about the 5 regions. You could also mention how he came up with this method of dividing the state into regions.
  •  Done
• "The region is a flat plain, gently sloping to Lake Superior." Change to "gently sloping downward" or "gently sloping upward", whichever is correct here (I assume downward, but you never know!)
  •  Done
• "The terrain is somewhat flat, with frequent hills, and includes the state's highest point, Timms Hill." This sentence disagrees with itself. If it has frequent hills, and the state's highest point, how can it be flat?
  •  Done
• "In the middle of the state, the Central Plain has many unique sandstone formations like the Dells of the Wisconsin River in addition to rich farmland." Add a comma after River.
  •  Done
• "In the southwest, the Western Upland is a rugged landscape with a mix of forest and farmland, including many bluffs on the Mississippi River. The region is defined by its hilly rugged terrain, including the entirety of the Baraboo Range." The word "rugged" is used twice in a row here. I would replace one of the mentions with a synonym.
  •  Done
• "This Western Upland is part of the Driftless Area, which also includes portions of Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota." Change "this" to "the".
  •  Done
• "Overall, 46% of Wisconsin's land area is covered by forest." This sentence seems out of place, since the rest of the paragraph is specific to just the Central Plain. Consider moving it to another location where it would fit better, perhaps protected areas.
  •  Done
• "The ridges include the Niagara Escarpment that stretches from New York, the Black River Escarpment and the Magnesian Escarpment." An Oxford comma may be needed here, because when I first read this sentence I assumed it was entirely about the Niagara Escarpment. In fact, I would remove the words "that stretches from New York", since this escarpment is described in detail in the next section.
  •  Done

Geology

• "Wisconsin has geologic formations and deposits that age from over three billion years to several thousand years, with the majority of rocks being millions of years old." Reword this to "...deposits that vary in age from..."
  •  Done
• "Baraboo Quartzite, and other Precambrian metamorphic rock consists much of the Baraboo Range." Either remove the comma, or add a second comma after rock. Additionally, this sentence may work better if reordered as "Much of the Baraboo Range consists of Baraboo Quartzite, and other Precambrian metamorphic rock."
  •  Done
• "During the Pleistocene, massive glaciers covered Wisconsin. The glaciers flattened mountains, carved bedrock, and deposited sand and gravel in many areas of Wisconsin. The many lakes of Wisconsin are a result of this glaciation carving out low spots in the terrain." Wisconsin is used three times in a row. Replace two of the mentions with "the state" or something similar. In general, once I read this section I noticed you use the state's name very often throughout the article (143 times!), many of these mentions can be replaced with pronouns. Use your browser's find function, and you'll see what I mean.
  •  Done, fixed the mentioned sentence. Will go through the rest of the article and trim out other uses of the name.

Physical geography

• "Wisconsin is bordered by the Mississippi River and St. Croix River in the west." Replace "in" with "to".
  •  Done
• "Wisconsin has more than 12,000 named rivers and streams, totaling 84,000 miles (135,000 km)" Add "in length" to the end of this sentence.
  •  Done
• "The name was first recorded as "Meskousing" by Jacques Marquette, but was later modified to "Ouisconsin" by later French explorers. The name was finally simplified to "Wisconsin", as it was applied to the new Wisconsin Territory." Can you provide dates for these various names?
  •  Done
• In general, the first paragraph should be split in two, with all the material on the Wisconsin River forming a new separate paragraph.
  •  Done
• "The river originates in the Lac Vieux Desert near the border of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan." Change "of" to "with".
  •  Done
• "The Baraboo River is one of the longest free flowing waterways in the United States." Add that this is a tributary of the Wisconsin River.
  •  Done, added "is a tributary". let me know if I should repeat "of the Wisconsin River". I feel it could go either way.
• "The name is derived from a translation of the name for the Meskwaki people, as the river runs through their territory." Change "for" to "of".
  •  Done
• "The Fox Cities metropolitian area comprises many cities along the river." Consider changing "comprises" to "includes". Also, "metropolitan" is misspelt here.
  •  Done
• "The Fox River flows through the lake." Delete this sentence, it is repeating information stated in the rivers section.
  •  Done
• "French Island is located in the Mississippi River and the city of La Crosse." Change "and" to "in" or "within".
  •  Done

Protected areas

• "Wisconsin has 66 developed state parks, covering more than 60,570 acres (245.1 km2)." What is a "developed" state park? Is there a such thing as an undeveloped state park?
  • Ah the "developed". Another edited added this in, as the park on Detroit Island is undeveloped (i.e. no buildings/signs/anything), but I'm having a hard time finding proper citations to back this up. For now I'll remove it and bump the figure up to 67 to reflect the total number of parks.
• "making it the largest in Wisconsin." Reword to "...the largest state park in Wisconsin."
  •  Done
• "The state park includes Devil's Lake" Is this necessary to include? Considering the park is named "Devil's Lake State Park", I think mentioning this again in the following sentence is redundant.
  •  Done
• "The state park includes Devil's Lake, and the 500-foot-high (150 m) quartzite bluffs surrounding. The park includes 11 miles (18 km) of the Ice Age Trail." Combine these sentences.
  •  Done
• "The Ice Age Trail is a National Scenic Trail covering 1,200 miles (1,900 km), following the terminal moraine of the Wisconsin Glaciation." The trail should not be wikilinked here, since it was already mentioned in the previous paragraph. It should be wikilinked in that paragraph instead.
  •  Done
• " Along the way, the trail passes through 30 of Wisconsin's 72 counties." Consider removing "along the way".
  •  Done
• "It was established in 1933 as two separate forests, but have been maintained as a single entity since 1998." Change "have" to "has".
  •  Done

Miscellaneous

• The link in the see also section might be better off included in the prose in the islands section instead.
  • Removed, as I don't think its relevant to the article.
• Some of the references need improvement in formatting. Ref 13 lists the author as "Democrat, Tallahassee" when it should be Tallahassee Democrat.
  •  Done

Almost there

Almost everything has been addressed. The only remaining issues are too many uses of the word "Wisconsin", and one instance of duplicate wikilinks I identified.

• A number of the mentions of Wisconsin should be replaced by phrases such as "the state".
  • Cut down much of the use of the term. Most remaining cases are in phrases such as "Wisconsin River", and "Wisconsin glaciation." Let me know if there is anything in particular that needs to be addressed.
• "Wisconsin's borders are defined by Lake Superior and Michigan to the north; by Lake Michigan to the east; by Illinois to the south; and by Iowa to the southwest and Minnesota to the northwest. A border dispute with Michigan was settled" Both instances of Michigan are wikilinked here, the second should not be wikilinked.
  •  Done

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

1. Is it well written?

   A. The prose is clear and concise, and the spelling and grammar are correct:

   All issues resolved.

   B. It complies with the manual of style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation:

   All issues resolved.

2. Is it verifiable with no original research?

   A. It contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline:

   Issues with references have been addressed.

   B. All in-line citations are from reliable sources, including those for direct quotations, statistics, published opinion, counter-intuitive or controversial statements that are challenged or likely to be challenged, and contentious material relating to living persons—science-based articles should follow the scientific citation guidelines:

   All sources are appropriate.

   C. It contains no original research:

   No issues here.

   D. It contains no copyright violations nor plagiarism:

   Earwig check came back clean.

3. Is it broad in its coverage?

   A. It addresses the main aspects of the topic:

   Good job here.

   B. It stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style):

   Well done.

4. Is it neutral?

   It represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each:

   More neutral than Switzerland.

5. Is it stable?

   It does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute:

   No issues here.

6. Is it illustrated, if possible, by images?

   A. Images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content:

   All images checked, all appropriately licensed.

   B. Images are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions:

   They are all relevant and appropriately captioned.

7. Overall:

   Pass or Fail:

   Some issues need to be addressed, but that should be achievable. On hold for now. All issues addressed, GA passed. Trainsandotherthings (talk) 21:03, 19 October 2021 (UTC)