Wikipedia:Peer review/Campus of Texas A&M University/archive1

Campus of Texas A&M University

This peer review discussion has been closed.
I've listed this article for peer review per this.

Thanks, — ComputerGuy890100^{Talk to me}_{What I've done to help Wikipedia} 20:24, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Ruhrfisch comments: Interesting way to pick an article to improve - good luck! While lots of work has been put into this so far, much more is needed to get it to GA, let along FA status. Here are some suggestions for improvement:

• This article despearately needs one or more maps of the campus. A map of the campus location in Texas would also help.
• The Lead does not summarize the article - see WP:LEAD. As a rule of thumb, I try to at least mention every section in the lead, even if only a word or phrase.
  • I am also surprised that the size (acres) of the campus is not given in the lead.
  • The whole Aggieland is centrally located within 200 miles (320 km) of three of the 10 largest cities in the United States and 75% of the Texas and Louisiana populations (approximately 13.1 million people). sentence needs a ref (extraordinary claim) and does not seem to be repeated in the rest of the article - everything in the lead should also be in the article.
  • I find the use of the phrase "Aggieland" three times in the lead and then only once more in the article (and that in a title) distracting. Give the alternate name and drop the other two uses - they are not encyclopedic in tone.
• Use {{convert}} for unit conversions: 2,416 acres is 9.777 square kilometers (not "10 acres" - see significant figures)
• Much of the article reads like a history of the university, not really like an article on the campus. Try to keep the focus on the campus (see the article title ;-) ).
• Make things consistent within the article and use specifics instead of generalities - is it the "Century Tree" (caption) or the "Century Oak Tree" (article text)? Give the actual year of its planting (1898) as in the caption, not the vaguer During this time one of the more recognizable features of the Texas A&M landscape, the Century Oak Tree, was planted. Why is it called the Century [Oak] Tree?
• Or here: For the next ten years, several hundred students lived in tents in a field in the middle of campus.[17] Since no date is given beyond the "early" 20th century, this makes little sense. The caption mentions 1910, but is unclear when in the ten year period this is.
• The article is organized both historically and geographically - this leads to repetition: for example, the historic "World War II" section is essentially a duplicate of the later "Riverside Campus" section, but refers to it as the Annex instead.
• Is the Riverside campus not a branch campus (what makes it different from Galveston campus or Qatar?).
• There are many short sections that could be merged - as it now is they break up the flow of the article.
• The article could use a good copy edit.
• Perhaps the buildings could be part of a list of Texas A&M buildings (make a subarticle - see WP:Summary style)?
• Try to get flow between sections - for example, the "The 2004 Campus Master Plan" section (lose "The" here by WP:MOS, by the way) lists a bunch of apparent planned changes. The next section "Current Status" (again this name is problematic - it will not be current in 5 years, add the date for context) describes a bunch of new building projects, none of which seem to match the Master Plan. I was confused - were the Master Plan items already completed (if so, say so)? Were they ignored / changed / delayed?
• Try to always provide context for the reader - see WP:PCR. Most readers will not know much about the campus.

Hope this helps, Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 13:58, 1 April 2008 (UTC)