User:Eurodog/sandbox441

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Bibliography overhaul, in progress, and suggested next steps for the overall article

Hi everyone, I wanted to update you on some major cleanup work I just finished on the University of North Texas article – and invite your help going forward. Recently, I've been chipping away at the references and citations. In particular, I've:

• Reorganized the references/bibliography: I split the reference section into Annotations, Notes, and References (with separate Primary and Secondary subsections). This should make maintenance easier by clearly separating explanatory notes from source lists, and highlighting which sources are primary vs. secondary. It's not a common layout on every article (and it's not done, yet), but I've see how segmenting bibliography helps future editors maintain the article.

• Fixed dead links and citation tags: I addressed over a dozen citation needed tags by finding and adding sources for those statements, and I repaired numerous dead URLs (thank you, Wayback Machine, you’re a lifesaver). The bibliography is now a lot cleaner – no more glaring → ← boxes (at least in the spots I tackled) and far fewer "404 Not Found" errors (dead links, link rot) in the references. There may still be a straggler or two, but I'll eventually fix it.

• General citation cleanup: I standardized the formatting for many references and ensured consistency between the Primary and Secondary source listings. Now it’s more apparent which citations come from UNT itself (press releases, official site, etc.) and which are from independent sources. This transparency should help us identify where we might be relying too heavily on primary sources and encourage adding more independent references where needed. Note that I often use the cite book template, because it offers more flexibility with respect to quoting/italicizing titles. I also often put reference data on the outside of the template, because it's more flexible.

The article, itself, still has significant weaknesses – so this is where I humbly ask for collaborative help. 😅 The content itself could use a lot of love to reach encyclopedic quality. A few big things stand out:

• Promotional tone in places – Some sections of the article still read a bit like a campus brochure or lifestyle magazine rather than an impartial encyclopedia entry → as noted above by JohnAdams1800 ((see Wikipedia:Avoid academic boosterism)).

We should continue combing through the text to remove boosterish language and make sure we’re following a neutral tone. In other words, let’s have the article inform readers with facts, not try to impress them. If you spot any fluffy adjectives or unsourced boasts about UNT’s "prestigious excellence" (for example), feel free to either remove them or back them up with a reliable source that isn’t the university itself. Keeping WP:NPOV and our guidance on avoiding boosterism in mind will be key.

• Focus and content balance – Right now, the article’s emphasis is a bit skewed. There’s a lot of detail on student life, traditions, and other “fun facts,” which is great info, but it might be overshadowing UNT’s core identity as a major public research institution. We should aim to highlight the university’s mission, academic programs, and research contributions more prominently. For instance, UNT’s classification as an R1 research university and its role as the flagship of the UNT System are significant facts that deserve equal (if not greater) weight than, say, how many dining halls or what the mascot’s name is. In practical terms, this could mean adding or expanding sections on academics and research (e.g. notable research initiatives, labs, academic rankings, faculty achievements) and possibly trimming or summarizing some of the more trivial “lifestyle” content that might have crept in. The goal is to ensure the article reflects UNT’s stature as a research university rather than reading like a promotional pamphlet.

• Outdated or missing information – A cursory look shows some stats and info might be outdated (enrollment numbers, rankings, etc., change frequently). We should double-check facts for currency – I updated a few as I went, but I’m sure I missed some. Also, there are areas that could be fleshed out. For example, do we adequately cover UNT’s academic profile (colleges, notable programs) and research endeavors? If not, adding well-sourced material in those areas would improve the article’s depth. And if there are sections that seem overly detailed or unsourced, we might prune them per WP:UNDUE and WP:VERIFY. In short, there’s plenty of room for continuous improvement on both the content and sourcing fronts.

It’s clear that bringing this article up to a truly high standard is a big project (UNT is a pretty big place, after all!). 🏗️ But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a great Wikipedia article – it’s an ongoing, collaborative process. I’d love to get more eyes and hands on this. Anyone interested in UNT or just keen on article improvement is warmly invited to join in. Even small fixes or additions (copyediting a paragraph for tone, adding a citation here and there, etc.) will move the article in the right direction.

We should focus on aiming towards an comprehensive and informative without sounding promotional, that showcases UNT’s role as a leading public research university in Texas, and that is well-organized and well-sourced throughout. We’ve made a good dent with the reference cleanup, but there’s definitely more work ahead in terms of rewriting and restructuring parts of the article.

So, let’s do this together! 💪 I’m planning to continue working on it in the coming weeks, but I absolutely welcome any help – be it suggestions, edits, or even just pointing out sections that need attention. This can be a team effort (the Mean Green Editing Machine, anyone? 😉). With collaborative input, we can turn this article into a lean, mean, well-sourced machine that the UNT community and readers worldwide will find useful and trustworthy. Thanks for reading this long post, and happy editing to all. I’m looking forward to working with you to keep improving the UNT article! Go Mean Green! 🦅