Wikipedia:Peer review/History of Indiana/archive3

History of Indiana

Previous peer review

• 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 February 2009.

This peer review discussion has been closed.
I am requesting this peer review because I would like to know what other editors think this article needs to pass at FAC. It has been there twice before, and I have put alot of research into the article. I was hoping to get some feedback before I give it another shot.

Thanks, Charles Edward (Talk) 18:04, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Finetooth comments: This seems quite close to FA to me. I've identified some problems and made some suggestions below for improving the prose in specific places. Not all passive-voice sentences can or should be converted to active voice, but I think you could increase the zing of the prose by converting perhaps 20 sentences here and there throughout the article. I've identified a half-dozen or so. Here are my suggestions.

Lead

• Passive voice. Example: "The Trans-Allegheny region was divided into several new territories by the United States government." Made active, it reads, "The United States government divided the Trans-Allegheny region into several new territories." Another easy one to switch would be "Indiana was inhabited by migratory tribes of Native Americans as early as 8000 BCE." This becomes "Migratory tribes of Native Americans inhabited Indiana as early as 8000 BCE".
• "During the 1850s, the state's population grew to exceed one million, and the ambitious program of the state founders was realized as Indiana became the fourth-largest state in terms of population, as measured by the 1860 census." - Repetition of "state". Suggestion: replace "state founders" with "its founders".
• "The state experienced industrial growth with the construction of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the expansion of the auto industry in the state, substantial urban growth, and two major wars involving the United States, which further grew industry." - Sentences like this one could be tightened to say the same thing with fewer words. Suggestion: "Construction of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, expansion of the auto industry, urban development, and two wars contributed to the state's industrial growth."
• The Manual of Style suggests avoiding repetition of the words of an article's title in the section heads. Instead of "Indiana Territory" perhaps "Organized territory" or "Incorporated territory" would solve the problem. Lower down, "Modern Indiana" might be re-cast as "After the war".

European contact

• "The Iroquois gained the upper hand..." - Slang. Suggestion: "The Iroquois gained control... "

Colonial rule

• Image:Natives guiding french explorers through indiana.jpg should be moved down at least two paragraphs to avoid displacing or bumping into the subhead "France".

United States

• In July 1778, Clark and about 175 men... " - Here 175 is written as digits. In the earlier sections, the centuries were mostly expressed in digits, but other numerical terms were expressed as words. "One hundred years of French rule" in the lead is an example. Generally, digits are preferable for numbers bigger than nine, but exceptions exist. Also, you can consistently spell most of them out, if that is your preference. WP:MOSNUM reveals all.

"Indiana Territory

• "The entire population of the northwest was under 5,000 Europeans." - Suggestion: "The population of the northwest included fewer than 5,000 Europeans."
• "The Indiana Land Company, who... " - "which", not "who"
• "Before that time, the legislature had been appointed by Governor Harrison." - Suggestion: "Before that, Governor Harrison appointed the legislature."

War of 1812

• "Unhappy with their treatment since the peace of 1795, the native tribes formed a coalition against the Americans, led by the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa." - Move modifier up against modified, thus: "Unhappy with their treatment since the peace of 1795, the native tribes, led by the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, formed a coalition against the Americans."

Statehood

• "He further complicated matters by being a supporter of slavery... " - Tighten to "He further complicated matters by supporting slavery...".

"Founding"

• "That same year Indiana statehood was approved by Congress." - Here's another sentence easily converted to active voice, thus: "That same year Congress approved Indiana statehood."
• "In 1825, Corydon was finally replaced as the seat of government in favor of Indianapolis." - Another easy conversion: "In 1825, Indianapolis finally replaced Corydon as the seat of government."

Early development

• "The National Road was connected to Indianapolis in 1829, connecting Indiana to the Eastern United States." - Recast to avoid repeating "connect".
• "The canal system was soon made obsolete by railroads." - Another easy conversion to active voice: "Railroads soon made the canal system obsolete."
• "The Panic of 1819 caused the state's only two banks to fold, hurting Indiana's credit halting the projects and hampered the start of any new projects until the 1830s, after the repair of the state's finances during the terms of William Hendricks and Noah Noble." - Tangled. Suggestion: "The Panic of 1819 caused the state's only two banks to fold. This hurt Indiana's credit, halted the projects, and hampered the start of any new projects until the 1830s, after the repair of the state's finances during the terms of William Hendricks and Noah Noble."

Higher education

• ""general system of education, ascending in a regular gradation, from township schools to a state university, wherein tuition shall be gratis, and equally open to all". - Direct quotations need a citation immediately after the quote. In this case, the citation would come right after the terminal period.
• "It took several years for the legislature to fulfill its promise, partly because of a debate regarding whether the Territory of Indiana's public university should be adopted as the State of Indiana's public university, or whether a new public university should be founded to replace the territorial university." - This seems unnecessarily convoluted. How about "It took several years for the legislature to fulfill its promise, partly because of a debate about whether a new public university should be founded to replace the territorial university"?

Civil War

• "24,416 lost their lives in the conflict and over 50,000 more were wounded." - Re-cast to avoid starting a sentence with digits.

Morgan's Raid

• "On the morning of July 9, 1863, Morgan attempted to cross the Ohio River into Indiana... " - It would be good to make explicit in this sentence that Morgan's force was Confederate. Something like "On the morning of July 9, 1863, Morgan attempted to cross the Ohio River into Indiana with his Confederate force of 2,400 cavalry" might do.

Post-Civil War era

• "Post-war Indiana also saw several major criminal events." - This kind of "saw" construction, which occurs elsewhere in the article is problematic since years and other time periods can't see. It's better to re-cast. This one might become "Several major crimes occurred in post-war Indiana".
• "She is believed to have killed more than twenty people, most of them men, between 1881 and her suspected murder in 1908." - Does this mean that she was murdered in 1908 or that her last murder occurred in 1908?

Modern Indiana

• This section ends with several short paragraphs. I'd suggest combining the Dan Quayle paragraph with one of the others.

Another thought

• I like infoboxes, and I think this article would look better if it had one. I searched for an example of another state history article with an infobox but didn't find one. Why not use the already-completed Indiana infobox in this article? Just a thought.

I hope these suggestions prove helpful. If so, please consider reviewing another article, especially one from the PR backlog. That is where I found this one. Finetooth (talk) 22:12, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your review, it is appreciated! I have implemented your prose suggestions and am looking into an infobox. Charles Edward (Talk) 16:56, 2 March 2009 (UTC)