diff --git a/docs/tutorial/5-relationships-and-hyperlinked-apis.md b/docs/tutorial/5-relationships-and-hyperlinked-apis.md
index f999fdf50..8de5b1b7b 100644
--- a/docs/tutorial/5-relationships-and-hyperlinked-apis.md
+++ b/docs/tutorial/5-relationships-and-hyperlinked-apis.md
@@ -94,6 +94,16 @@ Notice that we've also added a new `'highlight'` field.  This field is of the sa
 
 Because we've included format suffixed URLs such as `'.json'`, we also need to indicate on the `highlight` field that any format suffixed hyperlinks it returns should use the `'.html'` suffix.
 
+**Important:**  
+When you are manually instantiating these serializers inside your views (e.g., in `SnippetDetail` or `SnippetList`), you **must** pass `context={'request': request}` so the serializer knows how to build absolute URLs.
+For example, instead of:
+
+    serializer = SnippetSerializer(snippet)
+
+you must write:
+
+    serializer = SnippetSerializer(snippet, context={'request': request})
+
 ## Making sure our URL patterns are named
 
 If we're going to have a hyperlinked API, we need to make sure we name our URL patterns.  Let's take a look at which URL patterns we need to name.