User talk:Mstmaurice

Welcome

Welcome!

Hello, Mstmaurice, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{helpme}} before the question. Again, welcome! Mazeau (talk) 03:46, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion of Carmen Rodriguez

A tag has been placed on Carmen Rodriguez requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A1 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is a very short article providing little or no context to the reader. Please see Wikipedia:Stub for our minimum information standards for short articles. Also please note that articles must be on notable subjects and should provide references to reliable sources that verify their content.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hangon}} to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the article meets the criterion it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Lastly, please note that if the article does get deleted, you can contact one of these admins to request that a copy be emailed to you. TN‑X-Man 16:28, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mxtm, don't worry about the fact that the page has been deleted. It can be recreated no problem, once you have some more substantial content for it. We'll talk about this tomorrow. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 01:25, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

DYK

A reminder that those articles that are eligible for the "Did You Know?" section of the Main Page should be submitted within five days of their creation or first edit. See the DYK rules and this dispatch about DYK.

The important issues are that the article must be no more than five days old (or have been expanded fivefold or more within the last five days), have a minimum of 1,500 characters (around 1.5 kilobytes), and have a "hook" that is cited with an inline citation.

For now, don't worry too much about what's meant by an "inline citation." Once you have the information there, I or others can format it appropriately. But you do need to do some preliminary research and flesh out the article.

Good luck! --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 09:42, 15 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

reminders: regular editing and plan

Two reminders, from our project page:

Over the course of the semester, you need to log in and make at least one edit, again however minor, to your article twice a week.

By September 19, each group should have their plan in place, and have written it up on their article's talk page.

--jbmurray (talk • contribs) 08:09, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Another welcome!

Don't be discouraged! Keep up the good work. You have lots of friends here. Best, Mrtea (talk) 22:21, 18 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cites on Carmen Rodriguez

You're welcome; glad to help. The cite templates I used are a bit of a pain in the neck to learn, so I figured I'd just do them for you. When you get around to adding footnotes it's a good idea to have a separate "Notes" section for the footnotes. Footnotes are a pain too! But they can be figured out. Take a look at the Murder, Madness and Mayhem featured articles and see how they did it there, when you're ready. And please feel free to drop a question on my talk page any time; I'm happy to help. Mike Christie (talk) 11:31, 19 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

DYK problem

See here. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 00:14, 25 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

DYK congratulations!

On 25 September, 2008, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Carmen Rodriguez, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

You need one of these, too! --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 18:26, 26 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

WP:RSN

Guys, I've left a question about the sources you have at the Reliable Sources Noticeboard. I'm also going to drop a note with a couple of experienced Wikipedia editors. Do watch that page, and let's see what people say. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 22:12, 3 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See also the discussion here. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 01:23, 4 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

FA-Team

We have been adopted by the renowned FA-Team! Please add the project page to your watchlists, and feel free to ask FA-Team members if you have any queries or need help. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 20:18, 19 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

sourcing issue

See here. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 22:42, 20 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Clarifying the writing

I'll see what I can do to help proof read the article but I have multiple deadlines for this Friday and am really busy. I just made some edits to the intro to make it easier to read. The lead section is too long for Wikipedia though and I think you should focus on that in order to get GA. This might help: Wikipedia:Writing_better_articles#Lead_section. Sorry I couldn't be more help this week, Max. Mrtea (talk) 01:01, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

happy face!

You get my happy face for your work on Carmen Rodriguez. Well done! --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:28, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ha! That's good to hear - I'll be sure to keep it up. I must admit, though, that the frown was deserved. --Mstmaurice (talk) 19:31, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Mike Christie

I've just dropped a note with Mike Christie of the FA-Team (and a very experienced article editor) for him to give you some advice in the run up to nominating the article for GA. Take note of what he says! --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:31, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Will do, and thanks for doing that. His input is definitely valued. --Mstmaurice (talk) 19:32, 21 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Re: citations

(copied over from my talk page:) It's OK, I don't mind doing the tedious work. But do look at this question. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 05:10, 27 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Critical reception sections

Sorry I've taken a day or two to respond to you on this; I've been a bit busy, both on Wikipedia and off. Generally I would say that direct critical response to individual works is usually best mentioned when you cover those works. What should be saved for a summary "reception" or "influence" section is more summary material; material that addresses the overall body of work, or which ranges across multiple works.

A good way to get a feel for this is to look at two or three featured articles that address this in different ways, so you can see the possibilities. William Gibson, for example, has an "Influence and recognition" section, rather than a "Reception" section, but has scattered critical reception notes throughout the article, associated with the works they refer to. See the section on his "Sprawl" trilogy, for example, which assembles a few review quotes without attempting a summation.

For a "reception" section, see Sarah Trimmer. Again there are critical comments (not just reviews) in the individual "works" sections: see the section on Fabulous Histories, for example. Then there's a "Reception and legacy" section which steps back and looks at Trimmer's overall legacy.

I hope this is useful. If you have further questions, let me know and I'll ping one of the several very good literary editors here to give you some more input. Mike Christie (talk) 03:02, 29 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As always, thanks very much for your help Mike, very helpful! Looks like we've got a bit of reorganizing to do - but that's all part of the game. Those articles are a good example. Thanks again! --Mstmaurice (talk) 16:55, 29 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

well done!

		The Original Barnstar
		For your hard work over the past week or so on Carmen Rodriguez: well done! jbmurray (talk • contribs) 08:13, 29 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Jon. How are we looking for B-Class now? --Mstmaurice (talk) 18:28, 29 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Heh. See what Mike has to say... --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 18:49, 29 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, B class. I've upgraded it and will leave a couple of comments at the talk page. Mike Christie (talk) 00:04, 30 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you!

		The Exceptional Newcomer Award
		Thank you for your hard work on Carmen Rodríguez. It is difficult to write a biography of a living person and your insistence on including only what is published in reliable sources is rare in a new editor. You are a valuable addition to the Wikipedia community! Awadewit (talk) 02:26, 11 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well deserved! Congratulations! Mrtea (talk) 23:26, 14 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Magical Realism Reconsidered

Welcome back! I'm looking forward to working with your class during the semester - if you have any questions about the project or Wikipedia in general, please feel free to leave me a note at User talk:Awadewit. Wikipedians are here to help you! Awadewit (talk) 19:38, 7 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, welcome back. I'm here to help too, but I won't be 10% of the help that Awadewit will. (I hope you students recognize how blessed you are to have secured the aid of one of Wikipedia's most fantastic editors.) Scartol • Tok 11:50, 13 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks to both!, and yes, Scartol, I've had the pleasure to work with Awadewit and other editors before. Thanks for your offer to help, I look forward to working with you! --Mstmaurice (talk) 00:42, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Bibliography assignment

Hi, here are the details of the MRR annotated bibliography assignment...

Good Wikipedia articles are built on a foundation of good sources. In this respect, Wikipedia articles are not much different from academic essays. In fact, if anything a good Wikipedia article is more reliant on good sources than are other academic or scholarly texts. The whole notion of verifiability, which is the first of the encyclopedia's five pillars, depends upon reliable sources.

The aim of this bibliography assignment, then, is to identify, read, and comment on the most important and reliable sources that relate to the topic of your chosen article.

In coordination with your group, you need to do the following:

Identify the most important sources for your topic. These will be both books and articles. They will vary depending upon the kind of topic you have chosen, but to give a couple of examples this book is a key one for the general topic of magic realism, while this biography would be essential for the article on Gabriel García Márquez.
Use databases and the Koerner library catalogue to identify these sources. Look for as many as possible in the first instance; you will later choose between them. On the whole, they will not be online sources (though of course many articles are now available online thanks to JSTOR and other services).
Aim to come up with a long list of, say, 5-20 books and perhaps 15-40 articles. Obviously, for some topics there will be more material than for others. So for some topics you will need to do more searching; for other topics, you will need to be more careful and discerning as you choose between sources. Look far and wide and be inventive in thinking about good sources.
In some cases, the article may already have a number of references, either in the article itself, or perhaps somewhere in its talkpage archives. You should take account of these, but you should still undertake your own search, not least to find new material that has not been considered before.
To figure out what you need, you will also have to look at your article and consider what it is missing, what needs to be improved, where it could do with better sources, etc. In other words, you will have to start planning how you are going to work on and rewrite the article.
Come up with a final short list of c. 2-4 books and perhaps 6-24 articles.
Put the long list (of all the sources you have found) as well as the short list (of the sources you have decided are the most important) on your article's talk page by Wednesday, January 20.
Distribute the sources among the members of your group. Each person should be reading the equivalent of one full book or six articles. Exceptionally long books may be divided up between group members.
Read the sources, bearing in mind the information that is going to be useful as you work on the article. Think about what it covers and take a note of particular page numbers.
Produce an annotated bibliography of the sources you have read. This will consist of a summary or précis of the most important aspects of the texts, which should be at least 150 words long for each article read; 600 words for each book. You should put this on your user page by Monday, February 8.

To coordinate with the other members of your group (whose names you can find here), use their talk pages. Each time that you log in to Wikipedia, you will notice that if you have a message waiting for you, there will be a yellow banner at the top of the page.

Good luck! --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 23:08, 11 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

CAUTION: Emergency (Danger Notice) Account Attention

Just wanted to say hi. Hey Mrtea (talk) 16:03, 5 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]