If you tell us the model laptop, that will help, if your wirless is active you should see a little icon in the bottom right of the screen. It will look like a row of bars increasing in size, possibly with a red cross over it, double click that and search for a connection, if you cant see the icon, you should look on the sides of the laptop for a little switch that activates the wireless.
Thats just generic infomation, we will need your laptop model to help you more.