Talk:How the García Girls Lost Their Accents

message: I was trying to formulate a civil way to show concern about this entry, but I'm just going to be blunt...it's very, very bad. I'd save it from the gutter myself, but I've never read the book. Mike H. I did "That's hot" first! 06:59, 23 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm trying to improve it. <KF> 22:02, 18 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Evaluation

message: Hola clase, the following is our tentative plan for the gradual improvement of the Wikipedia article on How the García Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez. It’s quite possible that over the course of them term our plan, like our article, will evolve, but for now this is what we’ve decided:
As a group, our goals are:
*To achieve “Good” or hopefully “Featured Article” Status on Wikipedia
*To produce a concise, informative and reliable page that will do justice to the efforts of Julia Alvarez’s production of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
In order to accomplish these goals we will:
*Flesh out the intro, pare down the plot outline and add several informative sub-categories to tell about various topics of interest with regards to the novel 
*Either discard or add substance to the “Survey of Chapters” section
::.  I discarded it.  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 18:58, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: This is mostly done, though see my comments below.  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:23, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

text: Looks like a good plan.  You can of course add to it over time.  And cross things off when you've done them, including adding a big green checkmark  .  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 18:20, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Our Plan

message: The following is a compilation of relevant works we plan to refer to as we gradually flesh out our article on How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. --Bdaoust (talk) 00:17, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Again, an annotation would be helpful.  Is there a chapter on Alvarez's book?  How can this source help the article? --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:27, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: This information is incomplete: we need the author of the piece, the page numbers, the book editor, and the ISBN. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:33, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

text: How much is this about Alvarez's book?  After all, Alvarez is not Cuban.  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:28, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Bibliography

message: I've already posted this on the main page...not sure if they're going to delete it. Anyway, I plan to add a brief description of each novel at some point. Jon: I pulled this list from www.juliaalvarez.com. I remember you saying this might not be the best source. Is it okay if I cite it in the bibliography as a source for the list and description of the novels? --Kyalkin (talk) 18:53, 10 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: See the bibliography just above?  That has the sources that you should be using for this article.  Also note that this is an article about How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, not about these other books.  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 10:07, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

text: The problem is that this is not really appropriate for this article, which is on the novel.  Look at the models that I've suggested to you: El Señor Presidente and The General in His Labyrinth.  They don't have such a section.  You should really follow your plan and work with the bibliography of reliable (non-web) sources that you've put together.  This list is of course important for the Julia Alvarez article... but you'll see that that already has a list of works.  As such, I'm sorry but I'm going to delete this section.  If there's anything that can be added to the Julia Alvarez article, I'll add it there.  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:02, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: And as a follow up... in fact, I checked and the list of works at the Julia Alvarez article has exactly the same books.  (They probably got the list from the same place.)  So there's nothing to add. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 19:09, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: List of other works:

message: NB you sign posts on talk pages by using two dashes and four tildes: --~~~~. You'll also see a button above the edit window that you can use, by clicking on it as I showed you in class. See also WP:SIGN. --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 23:55, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Signing

message: Here we will feature information about the context of the novel and how it relates, if at all, to the life of Julia Alvarez. Please note that this article is not complete. --Kyalkin (talk) 18:53, 10 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, I've moved this over to the article.  Keep at it!  NB we need full citations for the references you're citing.  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 09:21, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Background & Historical Context

message: Here we will describe the main and important characters in the novel. --Kyalkin (talk) 01:28, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Summarization of Main Characters

message: Leanna1 has done a good job with the plot summary, cutting it down and making it more manageable.  Well done!  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 06:13, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  good job with the plot summary 

message: This is a good start! Here are some suggestions to help you refine what you have drafted here:
*Right now the "Background and historical context" section is too detailed. The reader who doesn't already know about these historical events will be confused. For example, you will need to briefly explain and describe the 1960s revolution in the Dominican Republic and the dictatorship of Trujillo. See, for example, A Vindication of the Rights of Men and Le Père Goriot. These articles also discuss the historical and literary context in one section - an idea you might consider.
*The "Literary context" section should be expanded to include information on what kinds of writing influenced Alvarez (I assume this is where you are going). 
*  Be sure that the plot summary remains focused on the plot. At times, elements of thematic analysis creep in, for example, Class becomes a more apparent theme with the story of the Haitian family maid elucidated, which is an indirect commentary Trujillo's massacre of Haitians and congruent with the political theme. The themes should be discussed in the "Themes" section. Bdaoust (talk) 21:36, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  General comments from Awadewit 

message: Alright you guys, I'm starting to post my sections as I complete them (I'm sure I'll still be making some edits to them). I'm not sure how to cite the sources properly on wikipedia so I'm just going to put them up for now and hopefully either someone will help us with that or once I figure it out I'll go back and make the necessary changes. I'll keep posting each theme/symbol/etc as I finish it, so that we can have as much time for feedback from the helpful wikipedians as possible. Happy wiki-ing!:)--Bdaoust (talk) 01:07, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Don't worry about the formatting.  But do make sure: 1) that your citations have the author, the year, and the correct page number(s); and 2) that there is also a full record of the reference used in the "References" section.  With that information, I can ensure that the formatting is AOK.  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 01:22, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Update, Nov. 6

message: Guys, have a look here.  Beware of overlinking!  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 22:31, 11 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  overlinking 

message: Hey there. Ok, let's take a peek at the article. Pardon me for appearing to be blunt. But it's better as a list of things to fix to be straightforward. Don't take this as criticism of the article as a whole. It's clear you have put a lot of time and effort into it.
Lead
* Your first sentence should be so plain it's blinding. Try How the García Girls Lost Their Accents is a 1991 novel by Dominican-American poet and novelist Julia Alvarez. Its major themes include acculturation and coming of age.
**Have re-jigged.  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 02:11, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: * The lead, for GA, is perfection. For FA, as a kick, I would suggest adding a quote from one of your scholars that sums up the impact of the novel, hopefully using some kind of superlative. That's my preference. I like to draw readers in with the lead. --Moni3 (talk) 15:54, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Guys, how many of the above notes from Moni3 have you managed to deal with?  I don't see much interaction here, either with Moni3 or with Taxman's review (below).  The article's really quite close to GA now, I think.  Please deal with the outstanding issues, and then you can move on! --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 04:56, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

text: Kaan and I have been discussing and editing the article as per Moni3's recommendations. I've decided to leave the plot summary fleshed out, but have transferred the thematic comments to other sections. We've really appreciated the advice, and our article is better for your input! -- Leanna 142.103.92.1 (talk) 14:20, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

text: Yes, we have all been working very hard to adjust the article with regards to Moni3's reccommendations and significant edits are to follow today and tomorrow, after which I believe they should be, on the whole, sufficiently addressed. Bdaoust (talk) 23:50, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

text: I have gone through the suggested edits and ensured that they were caried out in the Style and Themes sections. I've crossed out the completed suggestions above as well. Thanks again Moni3 for your thorough review! It was very helpful.Bdaoust (talk) 11:30, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Moni3 Review and Prep for GA 

message: Guys, I'm adding this article to the GAN queue.  Per Moni3's very helpful suggestions, you've got some work to do...  But you can do it!  You have a roadmap towards GA...  --jbmurray (talk • contribs) 21:52, 14 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: GAN

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thread_title:  External links modified