User:Lithoderm/How to create a stub

This is a synopsis of how to write a short article, or stub, using the example of Gord Smith. It is also intended to give a brief introduction to wiki-markup. Occasional footnotes and help boxes are included to aid your understanding. You need not memorize the symbols that are used to format the text, but can copy and paste the text from this message and replace the information with info relevant to your subject (or try the buttons above the editing box). Note that this does not ensure that your page will not be deleted, as your subject must still follow the notability criteria. Should you wish to work on an article without fear of argument or deletion, you may work on it in your user space; a how-to can be found here. For further guidance see the essay "Your first article".

Note that not all of these spots have to be filled in; only the title, date, publisher, and author are required. Often reference templates look something more like this, when filled out:

If you link to a url, you will need to format it by placing a single bracket on either side, making sure that the http:// prefix is included in the address. The easiest way to do this is to cut and paste the address from the browser bar. If you link a url, the address goes first, then after a space, the text to be displayed goes inside the bracket also.

URLText displayed

Then add under the references heading.

Notes


 * This is a piped link, used when you want to link to article, but the full article name is grammatically incorrect (as Canada - Canadian) or is clear from the context of the article. The button that makes the | is right above the enter key on your keyboard. The formatting goes as follows: Article nameText displayed