Wikipedia:Peer review/Luton/archive2
- A script has been used to generate a semi-automated review of the article for issues relating to grammar and house style; it can be found on the automated peer review page for June 2008.
This peer review discussion has been closed.
I've listed this article for peer review because quite a lot of work has gone into it recently, but now would like some help/feedback on the next steps.
Thanks, GazMan7 (talk) 09:58, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
Ruhrfisch comments: Sorry this got missed on the backlog list - it is an interesting article. I will assume the next step is going for GA. Here are some suggestions for improvement:
- A model article is often very useful for ideas on structure, topics, refs, etc. There are many city FAs at Wikipedia:Featured_articles#Geography_and_places including Bath, Somerset, which may be a useful model.
- The lead should be an accessible and inviting overview of the whole article. My rule of thumb is to include every header in the lead in some way, but the History, Demographics and some other sections seem to be missing from the lead, which should be three to four paragraphs for this size article. Please see WP:LEAD
- Article needs more references, for example just in "Early History", these statements need references: The most prominent Neolithic structure is Waulud's Bank - a henge dating from around 3000 BC. From the Neolithic onwards, the area seems to have been fairly thickly populated, but without any single large settlement. and Agriculture dominated the local economy at that time, and the town's population was around 700-800. and and the site is now home to a Matalan store. During the Middle Ages Luton is recorded as being home to six watermills. Mill Street, in the town centre, takes its name from one of them. and the last three paragraphs all have zero refs.
- Some whole sections (Media references and Areas and suburbs for example) have zero refs.
- My rule of thumb is that every quote, every statistic, every extraordinary claim and every paragraph needs a ref. See WP:CITE and WP:V
- The last three paragraphs in "Early History" are all just one or two sentences and could be combined or perhaps expanded. This is true throughout the article - many short paragraphs break the flow while reading.
- There is about a 500 year gap in the town history from its founding to 1121. There is then a 200 or so year gap after the great fire. Can these gaps be filled in?
- Several sections in the article are very short and could be combined, for example is there any reason why 17th and 18th centuries couldn't be one section? Or could the two parks be combined in a section just called Parks or perhaps Wardown and Stockwood Parks?
- Internet refs need URL, title, author if known, publisher and date accessed. {{cite web}} and other cite templates may be helpful.
- Some refs seem not to meet the criteria for reliable sources, what makes http://www.localhistories.org/luton.html (current ref 7) a WP:RS?
- Much of the article, especially towards the end, is quite list-y and should be rewritten as prose where possible.
- In Areas and suburbs, several of the places in the lists are not on the map.
- Per WP:MOS#Images, image widths should just be set as thumb to allow reader preferences to take over.
- Please use my examples as just that - these are not an exhaustive list and if one example is given, please check to make sure there are not other occurrences of the same problem.
Hope this helps. If my comments are useful, please consider peer reviewing an article, especially one at Wikipedia:Peer review/backlog (which is how I found this article). Yours, Ruhrfisch ><>°° 18:41, 25 June 2008 (UTC)