Talk:Ida Tarbell/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Ed! (talk · contribs) 19:03, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

Will look at this one. —Ed!^(talk) 19:03, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

GA review (see here for criteria) (see here for this contributor's history of GA reviews)

1. It is reasonably well written:

   Dup links, dab links both show no problems. Copyvio tool returns green. There's one dead link, if it could be fixed.

 Done SusunW (talk) 16:17, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

1. It is factually accurate and verifiable:

   • Citation needed: "The real reason for the fall-out with Flood remains a mystery, but one reason may have been the placement of his son's name on the Masthead above Tarbell's own. Another hinted that her family had reason to seek revenge on him."

 Done SusunW (talk) 16:51, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

1. It is broad in its coverage:

   Not Yet

   • Early Life: "She told me the plain and ugly truth about myself that day, and as I sat there, looking her straight in the face, too proud to show any feeling, but shamed as I had before and never have been since." -- cite this quote to who said it.

 Done SusunW (talk) 17:05, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Second quote in tha graph, likewise. Is this something she later wrote or something from a later interview with her?

Citation  Done. The source says she recalled it later, but does not indicate the origin of the quote. SusunW (talk) 17:05, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Tarbell would go on to support the university by serving on the board of trustees, and the first women's dormitory was named after her. -- What years did she serve as trustee, and when was this dormitory completed?

 DoneNot really sure of the entire term. She was elected in 1912 and served over 30 years per sources which I have cited. Weinburg only says of the dormitory (pg 94), "When the first women's dormitory opened, it carried her name". No idea when it opened. SusunW (talk) 18:29, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

 DoneI went back through sources also and while I can find "served for thirty years" I cannot find evidence of which years. I went ahead and deleted the sentence about the dormitory being named for Tarbell. The only source I could find was the mention in Weinberg's book and there was nothing on Allegheny's site. It looks like the dormitory is called Ruter Hall, as in the accompanying photo. Auldhouse (talk) 22:26, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Early career, " "Doing this job I began to think..." same as above. Helpful to understand if these were written in memoirs, a diary, or for publication at the time.

Fixed the citation, but I have no idea what the source of the quote was as the reference section of Kochersberger is not available for me to view in the on-line book preview. SusunW (talk) 18:44, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

 DoneI'm going to eliminate the quote and sentence altogether after taking a look at both sources. Part of the quote was from her autobiography, All in a Day's Work, which was then quoted by Kochersberger. The original quote from Kochersberger was "Doing this job, she began to think about facts; reading proofs, she said, was "an exacting job which never ceased to worry me. What if the accent was in the wrong place? What if I brought somebody into the world in the wrong year?" The original quote from the autobiography was "But my task required better equipped libraries than Titusville offered; Meadville, only thirty miles away, headquarters for the Chautauquan, had them, and so I arranged to do my work there, remaining until I had read the proofs--an exacting job which never ceased to worry me. What if the accent was in the wrong place? What if I brought somebody into the world in the wrong year?"Auldhouse (talk) 22:48, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Spotting a lot of references to "the Chataquan" and, if all reference the periodical, should be italicized. Just making sure that's what you actually mean, though.

 Done From the sources it is clear it was the magazine and was italicized in the original references. SusunW (talk) 19:06, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Napoleon Bonaparte: "...quadrupling the readership to over 100,000..." is this referring to circulation or readership? The two measures are different in a journalism context.

Clarified. Doubled circulation, quadrupled readership. SusunW (talk) 19:29, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Abraham Lincoln: "The popular series by Tarbell once again helped boost McClure's circulation to over 250,000..." when was this measure taken?

Inserted dates with citation. SusunW (talk) 20:23, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Standard Oil: "...help of an assistant, John Siddall.(Serrin & Serrin 2002)" -- This footnote should be coded like the others unless there's a specific reason.

 Done SusunW (talk) 20:29, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • The blockquote in this section should be cited to where it was written.

Not sure I understand. The citation is correct for the page of the source. However, it is not a quote by a person, but rather a direct reproduction of the text from the source. Seems to me, as it is not a quote, it should not be in a blockquote format? SusunW (talk) 20:43, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • ". The play even though Ida had turned down the lead role and an offer of $2,500 a week to play the role for twenty weeks." -- I think something's missing here.

 Done SusunW (talk) 20:58, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Can the Family section be folded elsewhere? It's relatively short.

Seems like it was better placed in the American Magazine section which talked about her buying the farm. Moved it there. Will try to come back later and work on it a bit more. SusunW (talk) 21:23, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

1. It follows the neutral point of view policy:

   Not Yet

   • Lead: "This one masterpiece of investigative journalism" -- The term "masterpiece" shouldn't stand on its own. Who considers it a masterpiece?

Added cite to source and a reference on why he might be knowledgeable. SusunW (talk) 00:42, 21 January 2019 (UTC)

I need to do a little research on this. I'm not sure J. North Conway would be a large enough person of note here. I keep finding more references to her and I think with a little digging I can find some more recognizable historians or journalists to make this call. I found Doris Kearns Goodwin talking about her book the Bully Pulpit on a CSPAN video. I know the American Experience did a whole segment on her Standard Oil writing in a video on the Rockefellers. Let me put a pin in this one and rework the lead. Auldhouse (talk) 23:24, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Paris in the 1890s: "Roland was complicit in creating an atmosphere where violence lead to the Terror and her own execution." -- Was this Tarbell's view of her or was this history's view? Should be clear to avoid weasel phrasing. If it's just Tarbell's view, you could add "Tarbell thought..." and then in the next sentence, "Tarbell wrote at the time..."

Reworded to reflect that it was Tarbell's view. SusunW (talk) 16:56, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Standard Oil: "Organized by Tarbell into a cogent history, they became a damning portrayal of big business." -- "damning" is a loaded term, even with the benefit of history. Could this be cites to a historian or subsequent analysis of the significant impact her writing had on the perception of the company?

It turns out this was a direct quote from a source not previously cited. I have reworked the section as to my eyes it was too close to the original, though possibly just an error. SusunW (talk) 17:44, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • "Organized by Tarbell into a cogent history, they became a damning portrayal of big business." -- likewise.

See comment immediately proceeding. SusunW (talk) 17:44, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Suffrage: "According to some scholars, this may have tarnished her long-term legacy." -- Should also note which scholars.

 Done SusunW (talk) 18:22, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

1. • Any contemporary thoughts on how her writing impacted the direction of journalism? Should note of course that her school of thought was a departure from yellow journalism of the era.

I have expanded the legacy section to discuss this. SusunW (talk) 21:22, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

I went through and expanded the legacy section a bit with pulled quotes from historians like Daniel Yergin, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Ellen Fitzpatrick. I then pulled a couple of these back up to the lead paragraph. Auldhouse (talk) 22:52, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

1. It is stable:

   Pass No problems there.

2. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate:

   Pass Eleven images all cited to PD where appropriate.

3. Other:

   On Hold An excellent article, just on hold for a few fixes. —Ed!^(talk) 19:53, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

   Update: I note the editor of the article appears to be on a wikibreak. Because I do think it's pretty close to being completed, I pinged her and will leave open for another seven days and also will ping relevant wikiprojects. After another week though, if no one gives it a look I'll have to remove from the queue. —Ed!^(talk) 22:20, 19 January 2019 (UTC)

Ed! I work with Women in Green and will try to help with this. Because I am not familiar with the article, I'll do my best to help with it, but may not be able to answer all of your questions. We'll see. SusunW (talk) 16:17, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

Ed!, I have tried to address all of your concerns. I also noticed that there were a large number of direct quotations throughout the article that were attributed to a wide range of pages, rather than the specific page from whence the quote derived and have attempted to correct that challenge. Please advise if there are further items needing to be addressed and how we should resolve the blockquote issue above by pinging me directly. Thanks for your review. SusunW (talk) 21:22, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

Sounds good! Thanks for your help SusunW. I believe Auldhouse said she's able to come back and finish the remaining comments here. —Ed!^(talk) 01:32, 24 January 2019 (UTC)

Great! Good luck in finishing it up. If I can help, let me know. SusunW (talk) 03:36, 24 January 2019 (UTC)

Thank you so much SusunW! Yes, I can go back through the rest.Auldhouse (talk) 22:09, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

Ed!Okay--I think I've hit it all. Have I missed anything? Are we good to go? I'm excited as this will be my first good article. Auldhouse (talk) 22:52, 2 February 2019 (UTC)

Wonderful work! All of these additions have really added some great content to the article. Based on this, going to Pass the GAN now. Superb work on all sides! Covering a complex subject in a very comprehensive way. —Ed!^(talk) 20:03, 3 February 2019 (UTC)

File:Ida M. Tarbell crop.jpg scheduled for POTD

Hello! This is to let editors know that the featured picture File:Ida M. Tarbell crop.jpg, which is used in this article, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for November 5, 2020. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2020-11-05. For the greater benefit of readers, any potential improvements or maintenance that could benefit the quality of this article should be done before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! Cwmhiraeth (talk) 12:47, 19 October 2020 (UTC)

Ida Tarbell (November 5, 1857 – January 6, 1944) was an American writer, journalist, biographer and lecturer. One of the leading muckrakers of the Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, she pioneered investigative journalism. Her best-known exposé was of the Standard Oil Company, run at the time by oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller. This inspired other journalists to investigate and write about trusts, large businesses that (in the absence of strong antitrust laws in the 19th century) attempted to gain monopolies in various industries. She also wrote biographies of businessmen Elbert Henry Gary, chairman of U.S. Steel, and Owen D. Young, president of General Electric.

Photograph credit: James E. Purdy; restored by Adam Cuerden

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