User:Rschen7754/How to review road articles

{{Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/essay}}

This guide is aimed at reviews for WP:HWY/ACR and WP:FAC. Many of the same principles apply to WP:GAN, but keep in mind that the GA criteria is much more relaxed than either of the two aforementioned venues.

Infobox

• Do any alternate names apply to the entire route? If not, they should be removed.
• Is there a map? Is there a caption for the map?
• Does the map provide context? (can a reader tell where the map is showing, or do you need a locator map? Labels? Shields?)
• Check for a formed=, and counties=.

Images

• Is the map tagged with the GIS sources that the data came from on Commons?
• Is the shield tagged properly? Ask if you need help.
• Usually someone with OTRS access checks any image that is tagged for OTRS to make sure everything is in order.
• Any photo of a sign, sculpture, or other copyrighted work needs additional permission, because of a lack of freedom of panorama. Again, please ask if you need help.

Footer

• Is there a KML file?
• Are the appropriate portals linked to?
• The "proper" standard for reflists now is {{reflist|30em}}

RJL table

• Notes should not end with a period, and should start with a capital. Multiple notes for an exit should be separated with semicolons.
• Does the table comply with AA:MURA?
• The table should use {{jcttop}}, {{jctint}} and {{jctbtm}} (or its child templates) - not a hard coded table?

References

• At the A-Class or FA level, a history section sourced with solely map sources is a no-no. So is a history section sourced with solely DOT sources. (We usually let both slide at GA).
• Are the references all reliable and high-quality?
• All references should be using the cite templates.
• Books and other book-type materials need page numbers. Remember to use page= and pages= when appropriate.
• Maps should use section= to indicate the grid reference.
• Make sure links are valid! Links to newspaper articles or published maps are not strictly necessary, so dead links can just be pulled.
• Anything that is not HTML (or processed to be in HTML) should have format= in the parameter.
• ALLCAPSTITLES should be in Title Case.
• Anything written by a corporation without an author should have an author= Staff.
• Dates should use the same format.
• For each source / paper, you should use a consistent format for the location. If the location is in the title, you do not need to put it again.

All prose sections

Keep in mind that you need to check for both prose style and verifiability. If you can't do this in one pass, you may need to read the section twice, once to get the prose errors and again to make sure that what's being said makes sense and works well with the sources.

Prose correctness

I don't pretend to list every possible prose error below, but here are some common things that come up:

• Currently/today/recently should not be used; instead use {{as of}}. 1=the year, lc=yes if you need lowercase, alt= if you want to use other text.
• Spring/summer/fall/winter should not be used as they are not universal for everyone.
• All punctuation marks come before references, not after them.
• Sometimes spelling and punctuation errors (especially periods missing after references) are still there until the fourth ACR review. Very disturbing when that happens.
• Something should generally be linked only once in the course of the article (lead doesn't count).
• Watch sentence length; sometimes they're too short, sometimes they're too long.
• Watch run-ons and fragments. Generally, when a semicolon is used to separate parts of a sentence, both sides of the sentence should be able to stand on their own. If not, either use a comma or add the missing words.
• Non-breaking spaces are needed in between numbers and units (i.e. 25 miles), in between a month and day or a month and year, or between abbreviations and route numbers (SR 52) or (Route 52).
• Any block of three or more cites in a row is a red flag (WP:SYNTH). There are legitimate reasons to do this, but look closely if you see this happening.
• Abbreviations are spelled out the first time, the shorter version is introduced immediately after in parentheses, and then always used thereafter.
• However should not be used as a transition word unless you're using it to mean "Nevertheless", and never at the beginning or end of a sentence.
• No two sentences in the same paragraph should start with the same word. I cut a bit of slack for "The" but it can be overused too.
• Watch for using a word twice in the same sentence or for using it too much in a paragraph.
• east–west has an en dash.
• Measurements should use the {{convert}} template. Measurements under ten may use {{convert|spell=in}}; use spell=In if you are beginning the sentence with the conversion.

Verifiability

• Map sources can only say so much. Does the type of map match the information it is used to source? Scenery, elevation, and interchange/structure names are common offenders.

Lead

The lead should be an adequate summary of the article (see WP:LEAD).

• The lead should generally not have citations.
• The first sentence and first paragraph tend to get highly scrutinized at FAC; make sure they're in good order!

Route description

There are a few common issues with route descriptions. Everyone has their own style, with strengths and weaknesses.

• Does it have too much detail? Turn-by-turn directions? Too many points of interest or too much tangential info? Info on nearby roads?
• Does it have too little detail? Is it leaving out topographical info, points of interest, important junctions?
• Don't use vague or redundant terms: "residential area", "rural farmland", "commercial area", "passes by a few businesses", "homes", etc.
• Is it "SR 23" all the time? Or are the references mixed up?
• Traffic count data should be included.

History

• Is it complete? If you can, do a Google search, and a search on databases to make sure it is.
• Does it have trivial details like repaving, landscaping, etc.? How about non-notable accidents?
• When maps are used to source when a route change happened, generally two maps are needed, and they should be as close together in age as possible. Watch how this is phrased.
• Generally freeways in large cities have a lot of stuff written about them, especially for ones constructed after the 1970s. If there are few newspaper sources, this is suspicious.

Other sections

• If there are other sections, does their existence make sense, or should they be merged into the RD or history?

Spotchecks

A spotcheck is a specialized check to make sure that there is no plagiarism and that everything is verifiable.

To do one, select ten sources (preferably textual sources). Read through the sentences that each source is used to cite, and make sure that the wording is not too close, and that the facts can be found in those sources.

One particular pitfall is using a source to give an opening date that is scheduled for after the article was published.

Sometimes sources are not available for free online (like newspaper articles), but can be emailed to the reviewer on request.