Template:Did you know nominations/Thomas Stephens (historian)

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:32, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Thomas Stephens (historian)

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... that Thomas Stephens (1821–75) was the first Welsh historian to employ rigorous scientific methods and did more to raise the standards of the National Eisteddfod than any other Welshman of his time? Source: a. "[Stephens] is generally considered to have been the first Welsh literary critic to adopt a scientific method and to have done more, as an adjudicator, to raise the standards of the National Eisteddfod and to win for it the confidence of scholars, than any other Welshman of his time." Stephens, Meic, ed. (1986). Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 563.
b. "Stephens was almost the first native Welsh scholar of this century to apply a rigidly scientific method to the study of Welsh history and literature." Thomas, Daniel Lleufer. "Stephens, Thomas (DNB00): Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 54". Wikisource.

Reviewed: 3rd DYK nomination, 1 article reviewed previously

5x expanded by RLO1729 (talk). Self-nominated at 02:45, 12 March 2020 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral : Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook eligibility:

Cited:
Interesting:
Other problems: - The hook could use some revising. Though it is what is said in the article, it seems somewhat wordy.

QPQ: None required.

Overall: --evrik ^(talk) 17:25, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for the review. I tried to find a balance between accuracy and brevity in the hook. I'm not sure how to reword it in less words while providing the same information and remaining true to the sources. Cutting it to include either just the scientific methods or the eisteddfod standards would seem to reduce the overall interest. I'd be grateful for any suggestions please. ~ RLO1729^💬 20:06, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

Alt1 * ... that historian Thomas Stephens did more to raise the standards of the National Eisteddfod, a festival of Welsh literature, music and performance, than any other of his time? --evrik ^(talk) 02:38, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

--evrik ^(talk) 02:38, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Thanks, appreciated, the ALT reads well but I wonder if five words less is worth the loss of one of Stephens' important claims to fame. The ALT seems to be as much about eisteddfodau as Stephens. Not including the year range means "his time" is not immediately known to the DYK reader, and it is not clear to what the "other of his time" refers - other historian? / other person? - rather than other Welshman as per the sources and article. Overall, I'd suggest the original is also of interest to a wider audience, those interested in historical research methods and those interested in eisteddfodau. ~ RLO1729^💬 04:30, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
If we are going for short and punchy then what about

ALT2 * ... that historian Thomas Stephens did more to raise the standards of the Welsh National Eisteddfod than any other of his time?

~ RLO1729^💬 23:09, 14 April 2020 (UTC)

Leaving the choice of hook to the promoter. --evrik ^(talk) 23:55, 14 April 2020 (UTC)