I dont really catch your question. You want to create a desktop shortcut or shortcut on the side bar. If you want to create the desktop shortcut, the following tutorial is quite easy to follow
http://www.linuxandlife.com/2012/07/how-to-create-launcher-in-linux-mint-13.html
Just install gnome-desktop-item-edit and use it. After create the .desktop file, you also need to download icon for the shortcut. Just google it.
This is my code of .desktop file
#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Icon[en_US]=/
Name[en_US]=MATLAB-R2012a
Exec=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2012a/bin/matlab -desktop
Comment[en_US]=Running MATLAB
Name=MATLAB-R2012a
Comment=Running MATLAB
Icon=/usr/local/MATLAB/R2012a/matlabicon.png
Regards,
Nam