Talk:George Orwell/comments

To-do list for getting George Orwell up to GA:

A good article is—

1. Well-written

   (a) the prose is clear and concise, and the spelling and grammar are correct; and

   One issue that immediately comes to mind is the problem of redundant sections about his childhood/early life and personal views. A more straightforward chronological biography should be followed by any sections about his philosophy and literary career. If need be, a "Personal life" section can remain, but in my mind, any of its content would be in those two sections.

   (b) it complies with the manual of style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation

   This seems generally good, although looking over the article for words to avoid could be an issue.

2. Factually accurate and verifiable

   (a) it provides references to all sources of information in the section(s) dedicated to the attribution of these sources according to the guide to layout

   I'm adding {{cn}} tags as I see them. There is a bibliography and between that and Amazon's and Google Books' search engines, that should resolve most of these issues.

   (b) it provides in-line citations from reliable sources for direct quotations, statistics, published opinion, counter-intuitive or controversial statements that are challenged or likely to be challenged, and contentious material relating to living persons—science-based articles should follow the scientific citation guidelines and

   I don't immediately see any disreputable sources, but I'll keep on looking as I go.

   (c)it contains no original research

   No obvious sections of speculation.

3. Broad in its coverage

   (a) it addresses the main aspects of the topic and

   This is covered pretty thoroughly.

   (b) it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style)

   This is a fairly long article, but not yet at the {{Toolong}} point. If need be, parts can be split off into Views of George Orwell or somesuch. Right now, this is a long, but manageable article.

4. Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without bias, giving due weight to each

   I don't see any immediate problems with this.

5. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute

   Done. The subject is not likely to change rapidly due to current events, either.

6. Illustrated, if possible, by images

   (a) images are tagged with their copyright status, and valid fair use rationales are provided for non-free content

   Done.

   (b) images are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions

   Done.

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Additional comments

• There are several maintenance tags that need to be addressed:

1. "Alan Brown noted that this brings to the forefront questions about the political content of teaching practices. Study aids, in particular with potted biographies, might be seen to help propagate the Orwell myth so that as an embodiment of human values he is presented as a "trustworthy guide", while examination questions sometimes suggest a "right ways of answering" in line with the myth.<ref>Alan Brown ''Examining Orwell: Political and Literary Values in Education'' in Christopher Norris ''Inside the Myth Orwell:Views from the Left'' Lawrence and Wishart 1984</ref>{{Clarify|date=September 2010|reason=precise language needed; see [[Talk:George Orwell#Reactions to Orwell's works unclear]]}}
2. "he contributed a series of articles and essays to ''[[Polemic (magazine)|Polemic]]'', a short-lived British "Magazine of Philosophy, Psychology, and Aesthetics" edited by the ex-Communist [[Humphrey Slater]].<ref>David Buckman, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19981113/ai_n14189822 Art-Historical Notes: "Where are the Hirsts of the 1930s now?"]{{Dead link|date=July 2009}}, ''The Independent'', 13 November 1998</ref><ref name="Absent Minds">Stefan Collini, ''[http://books.google.es/books?id=j-OjW2JvVfAC&pg=PA396 Absent Minds: Intellectuals in Britain]'', Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-19-929105-2</ref>
3. "Nevertheless, he opposed the creation of a Jewish state in [[Palestine]], taking an anti-colonialist stance against [[Zionism]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
4. "In 2003, the centenary of Orwell's birth resulted in the two most up-to-date biographies by Gordon Bowker<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/the-award/works/gordonbowker1.aspx |title=The Orwell Prize {{!}} Gordon Bowker: The Biography Orwell Never Wrote (essay) |accessdate=23 December 2008}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>

In my process of copyediting, I will add several more--likely instances of {{cn}}.

• Not all of the citations are formatted in the same manner (e.g. the one above does not use a citation template at all, whereas most of the citations do.)
• Several of the images added to the page do not have alt text.
• Are there too many links?
• Page needs to be checked for consistent usage of British English—I (koavf) am American.