User:Delancy

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My screen name is Delancy.

I created this page Editing User:Delancy on November 26th, 2006.

I am currently working on editing the article on The First Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I welcome your comments and ideas.

I recently contributed a comment to the discussion of the above Wikipedia article -- which I have copied below. My thought is that the article on McCall Smith's novel needs to be rewritten. My reasons are detailed below.

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I agree that the article as it stands now is written in a very naive, sophomoric, essay type style. It also does not draw on existing verifiable, authoritative sources and scholarship -- as is required for an article in an encyclopedia. The author has instead provided his or her personal opinion and assessment of the book. A essay based on personal opinion is not supposed to be the basis of a Wikipedia article.

The edits by Camillus have definetly improved the piece by removing many inaccuracies and he/she has indicated the willingness to work on it further. I agree that the article needs to be re-written, and probably re-organized. This is not to say that the editor of the present version has not tried to make a contribution. Many of the themes the editor identified in the novel: The First Ladies Detective Agency can be included, but they need to leave the realm of personal opinion and instead be based on what scholarly articles, book reviews, and other sources have already said on the subject. The neutral assessment of existing knowledge on the topic of The First Ladies Detective Agency should be the focus of the article. I would be happy to help with revisions of this article. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Any thougths you have would be appreciated. I will be working on a draft of possible revisions for a while and have plenty of time to take into account any ideas you have, or to co-ordinate my revisions with yours. If you are the original editor/author I would welcome the opportunity to discuss the novel and authoritative source material further with you.

Delancy