diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index c9f62bfc4578396cee27ef8f39bd2ce912618ba0..c0ffc58b69a1f355c60e78ad0735810e5dcba849 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -1,2 +1,30 @@
-# skais
+skais
+=====
 
+``skais`` is a Python package for Raphael Sturgis' PhD at LIS and Searoutes.
+
+Install
+-------------
+
+To install the package for development with ``pip``, run from the top-level
+source (i.e., this file's directory)::
+
+    pip install -e .
+
+To run unitary tests, install required packages::
+
+    pip install -r requirements.txt
+
+
+
+Dataset installation
+--------------------
+Download the data to your favorite directory.
+
+Then run function ``skais.Utils.config.generate_config`` in order to
+create a configuration file and modify it to specify the path to your data
+folder. The location of the configuration file is given by function
+``skais.Utils.config.get_config_file``.
+
+Once the configuration is set, the path to the data folder is
+returned by function ``skais.Utils.config.get_data_path``.
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