Wikinews:How do I ... ?

For the basic question "How", see WN:Basic questions.

Formatting, markup

Date an article

Assuming you used one of the many points where you are asked to input a headline (welcoming template on your talk page, newsroom,...), then there is some code that will convert to today's date: {{date|{{subst:#time:F j, Y}}}}. Leave it exactly as-is and the template will be auto-completed when you save.

Otherwise, you must format the date into the template yourself. Example: {{date|March 13, 2011}}. This template always goes at the top, although you may have the {{develop}} template above it. The date will be updated to date of publication when the article is reviewed.

Cite my sources

Cite all sources you rely on to allow validation of your article's content. You must cite at least two; but do not cite unneeded sources, and do not cite duplicates in different publications (eg, two newspaper sites carrying the same Reuters report). Complete the source template exactly as shown:

*{{source|url=http://www.full-path-to-article-on-news-site.com/2122355236
|title=The as-used title from the site
|author=who wrote the article
|pub=The publication name
|date=Month Daynumber, Year (of site's publication of the article)
}}

• If there is no author, leave that field blank; it could be an agency, eg Reuters, AP, AFP — if so, specify that.
• The date is always specified such-as: May 20, 2009.

Cite prior Wikinews articles

If you are relying on content from a prior Wikinews article—treating it as a source for your current submission—a simpler template than {{source}} is available:

*{{wikinews|title=Title of older Wikinews article used as source|date=Month Dayno, Year}}

Example: *{{wikinews|title=Out of space in outer space: Special report on NASA's 'space junk' plans|date=September 10, 2011}}

Such citations usually go into a separate section called "Related news".

Insert an image

You can't use an image from a non-Wikimedia project! Search Wikimedia commons for appropriate images, or upload your own photographs there. Wikinews allows local uploads where a fair use/fair dealing rationale can be constructed – other news sites cannot be used to source images!

So, if you're writing an article covering Silvio Berlusconi, and decide to use the image File:Silvio Berlusconi 29-01-2008.jpg, place it in the article as-follows:

[[File:Silvio Berlusconi 29-01-2008.jpg|thumb|200px|left|File photo of Silvio Berlusconi.
{{image credit|Presidenza della Repubblica}}]]

The parameter 200px specifies the size of the displayed image, and left can be changed to right to display on the other side.

Link to Wikipedia

There are two ways to do it, depending on the sort of thing you're linking to.

For a general background-information link in the text of the article, like a link for a person or place mentioned, use template {{w}}. It works the same way as a wikilink: if you specify just one parameter, that parameter is both the target and the text; or if you specify two parameters, the first one is the target, and the second one is the text. This template follows our policy of preferring to link locally from the article text — only if the target doesn't exist locally, it links to Wikipedia instead. For example, {{w|Timbuktu}} produces Timbuktu, while {{w|Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix}} produces Phoenix.

To link to a specialized article, like (for example) w:Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 8968, or w:Euthanasia in the Netherlands, put the link in a section called "External links", just below the "Sources" section of the article, as a bullet item using template {{pedia}}. So if (strangely) it made sense to provide links to both of those Wikipedia articles, you could use markup

== External links ==
 * {{pedia|Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 8968}}
 * {{pedia|Euthanasia in the Netherlands}}