MEpedia:External links

External links are links from MEpedia entries to other websites. (Internal links are links from one MEpedia page to another.)

When to use external links
External links are commonly used in the sections at the bottom of an entry, such as "Online presence", "Learn more" and "References". (The “See also” section is reserved for internal links; external links are not listed there.)

External links are also used more liberally on discussion pages where there is less need for formal citation.

When to use footnotes instead of external links
In the prose in the main body of an entry, use footnotes (inline references) instead of external links to cite your sources.

The most important reason for this is link rot: websites regularly change their content and over time become dead links, leaving the MEpedia content without a verifying source. The citation details included in a footnote often make it possible to track down content even if it has been moved or removed altogether.

Additionally, the References section will generate its own link to your source while also permitting you to add any relevant internal links to the prose in question. Example: If you mention a paper called "Response to valganciclovir in chronic fatigue syndrome patients with human herpesvirus 6 and Epstein-Barr virus IgG antibody titers", citing it with a footnote allows you to link to valganciclovir, human herpesvirus 6 and Epstein-Barr virus for readers interested in these topics, while still having a link to the paper in the footnote. By contrast, creating an external link ("Response to valganciclovir in chronic fatigue syndrome patients with human herpesvirus 6 and Epstein-Barr virus IgG antibody titers") does not allow this.

For the same reasons, in the "Notable studies" section, it's recommended to create a footnote for each listed paper, instead of an external link. You may, optionally, wish to add a following parenthetical note with an external link either to the paper's "Abstract" or "Full text". Those links are not strictly necessary, as footnotes will contain a URL as well, but many find them convenient.

How to create an external link

 * In Visual Editor, highlight the text you want to link and then select the "link" icon at the top of the window. Select the “External link” tab, type in the URL, and then click the "Done” button.
 * In Source Editor, add the URL just before the phrase you wish to link, and then enclose the entirety in single brackets. For instance: Google creates Google.

Learn more

 * MediaWiki's complete guide to internal, external and transwiki links