How to Create External Links on a Wikipedia Article

Wikipedia articles often includes links to external sites that contain additional information. As a contributor, you can increase the quality of Wikipedia's articles by adding these useful links.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Computer with Internet connection
• Wikipedia account

Find an Article to Provide Links for

1. Visit Wikipedia's home page and select the language you wish to use when navigating the site (see the Resources section below).

2. Log in to Wikipedia by clicking on the 'Sign In' link and entering your account information. You do not have to be signed in to edit content or create links, though this is recommended.

3. Search for a specific article or topic by entering its title or keywords into the 'Search' field found on Wikipedia's main page.

Add External Links to Wikipedia Articles

1. Click on the 'Edit' link to access the editing textbox for any section within the article.

2. Use the following format to add a link with a descriptive caption: '[http://www.example.org link name]', where the URL is followed by a space and 'link name' or the caption you wish to include.

3. Use the following format for external links without a caption: '[http://www.example.org].' This results in a supernumerated 'link box' to the external link. The address of the link will be displayed when you pass your mouse over it.

4. Click on the 'Show Preview' button to preview the text and links of the article.

5. Hit the 'Save Page' button when you are ready to publish your edits and display the new external links you have created.

Tips & Warnings

• Though it is not necessary to have a Wikipedia account to create links or edit text, it is to your benefit. If you edit Wikipedia without signing in, your IP address will be recorded and made viewable in the article's edit history. To understand more about how this affects your privacy, read Wikipedia's Privacy Policy.

• You can create an account by clicking on the 'Create Account' link and following the instructions from Wikipedia's main page.

• Do not add 'spamlinks' or create 'link farms' in Wikipedia. These pages, which serve as advertisements for Web sites outside of Wikipedia, will be quickly deleted by other users and you may be blocked from adding content to other Wikipedia pages.