User talk:Heptanitrocubane/Valentine Joseph

I notice you asking for input on this article at the Teahouse. Some quick observations, "is a renowned Sri Lankan mathematician" that notable claim is not supported in the reference given, in fact he seems most notable as a teacher. His education is unclear, the article states "Colombo University" while another source gives "University of Ceylon", the article mentions "1956 to undertake a doctorate" but a source suggests he was not successful at that time, other sources mention a doctorate in 1966, but not the university. I could not verify a book published as "Dynamics: Newtonian Relativity" A good reference to use is http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170430/plus/238249-238249.html It is usually preferable not to make a claim at all, rather than make an unverifiable claim. I hope this helps Dougmcdonell (talk) 22:44, 17 August 2017 (UTC)

That was really helpful Dougmcdonell! Colombo University is the same as University of Ceylon, it was seperated into 4 Universities, one of which was Colombo University. I have amended the reference and added the correct one, but I have checked the isbn number on "Dynamics: Newtonian Relativity, and it is defnitely correct and an isbn number, but it isn't registered/won't appear. Why is that? Do you know any other way to verify books that I could use? Thanks, Heptanitrocubane (talk) 09:29, 18 August 2017 (UTC)

I don't know why the isbn number doesn't work, I also tried a google search of the title and found nothing, if you can't find a reference for the book it would be preferable to remove the isbn link, a reference that fails verification is a much worse than no reference. And "was a renowned" would be the proper use of past tense. Good luck with your article.Dougmcdonell (talk) 22:29, 19 August 2017 (UTC)

Thanks Dougmcdonell. I will remove the isbn link until it is fixed. Regards, Heptanitrocubane (talk) 09:52, 20 August 2017 (UTC)