User:Ealdgyth/GA review cheatsheet

Checklist

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* I randomly googled three phrases and only turned up Wikipedia mirrors. [ Earwig's tool] shows no sign of copyright violation.
* Spotchecks:
:I've put the article on hold for seven days to allow folks to address the issues I've brought up. Feel free to contact me on my talk page, or here with any concerns, and let me know one of those places when the issues have been addressed. If I may suggest that you strike out, check mark, or otherwise mark the items I've detailed, that will make it possible for me to see what's been addressed, and you can keep track of what's been done and what still needs to be worked on. ~~~~

Earwigs

Earwig's

What it gives

GA review (see here for criteria)

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose): b (MoS):
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR): d (copyvio and plagiarism):
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects): b (focused):
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):
Overall:
Pass/Fail:

Things to look for

Annoying as it is, all quotations must be directly cited, like "quotation"<footnote> if they are in the middle of a sentence, even if the sentence has a citation at the end of the sentence. WP:CITE#Additional annotation. I'll note any occurrences below as "quotation needs direct citation"

In addition look for:

Short choppy sentences.
Short choppy paragraphs
Contractions: don't, won't, haven't, wouldn't, couldn't, shouldn't,
WP:DATE check that date linking is consistent, etc. - Note (Nov. 2008) that date linking is now depreciated, so it shouldn't be there.
Watch qualifiers at the start of sentences. However, In regards to,
Any galleries have introductions
Double check wikilinks that they lead to the appropriate spot
Every direct quote is directly cited
Make sure multiple footnotes are listed in order
Make sure the citation style is consistent
non-breaking space -   between a number and the unit of measurement.
watch for abbreviations, that they are either explained or eliminated. Especially i.e., etc., no., Inc., Corp.
make sure all title headings are correctly capitalized

(shamelessly stolen from User:Epbr123)

The lead should adequately summarize the content of the article. (GA criteria)
There should not be anything in the lead not mentioned in the rest of the article. (GA criteria)
Wikilinks should only be made if they are relevant to the context. Common words do not need wikilinking.
A word only needs to be wikilinked once within each section.
External links only belong in the External links section.
It is recommended not to specify the size of images. The sizes should be what readers have specified in their user preferences.
Text should not be sandwiched between two adjacent images. (GA criteria)
Left-aligned images should not be placed at the start of subsections.
All fair-use images need a fair use rationale. (GA criteria)
Images need succinct captions. (GA criteria)
Statements that are likely to be challenged and statistics need inline citations. (GA criteria)
Book references need the author, publishing date and page number. (GA criteria)
Book references preferably should include the publisher, city of publication and ISBN.
Web references need the author, publisher, publishing date and access date. (GA criteria)
Web references preferably should include the language (if not English) and format (if not HTTP).
Blogs and personal websites are not reliable sources, unless written by the subject of the article or by an expert on the subject. (GA criteria)
Dead web references should not be removed, unless replaced.
Inline citations belong immediately after punctuation marks. (GA criteria)
Portal links belong in the "See also" section. (GA criteria)
"Further info" links belong at the top of sections. (GA criteria)
Lists should only be included if they can't be made into prose or their own article. (GA criteria)
Lists within prose should be avoided. (GA criteria)
En dashes are used for ranges, unspaced em dashes or spaced en dashes are used for punctuation.
" " (non-breaking space) should be typed between numbers and units.
Imperial measurements should be accompanied by the metric equivalent in brackets, and vice versa. If possible, use a conversion template, eg. {{convert|5|mi|km|0}}.
Whole numbers under 10 should be spelled out as words, except when in lists, tables or infoboxes.
Sentences should not start with a numeral. The sentence should be recast or the number should be spelled out.
Only the first word in a section heading needs a capital letter (except in proper nouns).
Short sections and paragraphs are discouraged. (GA criteria)
Ampersands should not be used (except when in a name, eg., Marks & Spencer)
"Past few years" has a different meaning to "last few years".
"within" has a different meaning to "in".
Initials in people's names need full-stops.
Hyphens shouldn't be placed after -ly words, eg. widely-used word (except if the ly- word could also describe the noun, e.g. friendly-looking man)
Most other two-word adjectives need hyphens.
"century" doesn't have a capital.
"While" should only be used when emphasising that two events occur at the same time, or when emphasising contrast. It shouldn't be used as an additive link.
Using "with" as an additive link leads to wordy and awkward prose, e.g. "the town has ten councillors, with one being the district mayor" → "the town has ten councillors; one is the district mayor"
Beginning a sentence with "there", when "there" doesn't stand for anything, leads to wordy prose, e.g. There are ten houses in the village → The village has ten houses. The same applies to "it".
The words "current", "recent" & "to date" should be avoided as they become outdated. (GA criteria)
Avoid using "not", eg. "songs previously not heard" → "songs previously unheard"
Avoid contractions, such as can’t, he's or they're.
Avoid Weasel Words, such as "it is believed that", "is widely regarded as", "some have claimed". (GA criteria)
Avoid Peacock Terms, such as "beautiful", "famous", "popular", "well-known", "significant", "important" and "obvious". (GA criteria)
Avoid informal words, such as "carry out", "pub", "though", "tremendous" and "bigger".
Avoid vague words, such as "various", "many", "several", "long", "a number of", "just", "very" and "almost".
Avoid using the words "circa", "utilise", "whilst", "upon", "commence", "the majority of", "lack", "whereas", "generate", "due to the fact that" and "prior to".
Avoid phrases with redundant words, such as "is located in", "the two are both", "they brought along", "they have plans to", "they were all part of", "the last ones to form", "both the towns", "outside of the town", "all of the towns", "received some donations", "still exists today", "it also includes others", "many different towns", "near to the town", "available records show", "to help limit the chance", "Christian church", "in order to", "first began", "joined together", "future plans" and "in the year 2007".

And for dealing with fiction: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (writing about fiction)

On hold

article talk page

I've put the article on hold for seven days to allow folks to address the issues I've brought up. Feel free to contact me on my talk page, or here with any concerns, and let me know one of those places when the issues have been addressed. If I may suggest that you strike out, check mark, or otherwise mark the items I've detailed, that will make it possible for me to see what's been addressed, and you can keep track of what's been done and what still needs to be worked on.