diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8fa1107..1f76ada 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,10 +5,37 @@
 
 Canonically pronouced *nice*
 
-A compositional statistics and visualization toolbox
+gneiss is a compositional statistics and visualization toolbox.  
 
-You can install Gneiss via pip
+Note that gneiss is not compatible with python 2, and is compatible with Python 3.4 or later.
+gneiss is currently in alpha.  We are actively developing it, and __backward-incompatible interface changes can and will arise__.
+
+# Installation
+
+To install this package, it is recommended to setup a conda environment as follows
+
+```
+conda create -n gneiss_env python=3 pip gneiss
+```
+
+You can also install Gneiss via pip
 
 ```
 pip install gneiss
 ```
+
+To run through the tutorials, you'll need a few more packages, namely `seaborn`, `biom-format` and `h5py`.
+These packages can be installed with conda as follows
+```
+source activate gneiss
+conda install seaborn h5py
+pip install biom-format
+```
+
+# Examples
+
+IPython notebooks demonstrating some of the modules in gneiss can be found as follows
+
+* [What are balances](https://github.com/biocore/gneiss/blob/master/ipynb/balance_trees.ipynb)
+* [Linear regression on balances](https://github.com/biocore/gneiss/blob/master/ipynb/88soils.ipynb)
+
diff --git a/gneiss/_formula.py b/gneiss/_formula.py
index 8136a44..1e8f7d6 100644
--- a/gneiss/_formula.py
+++ b/gneiss/_formula.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+`# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Copyright (c) 2016--, gneiss development team.
 #
 # Distributed under the terms of the GPLv3 License.
diff --git a/gneiss/layouts.py b/gneiss/layouts.py
index a831cba..41b0dce 100644
--- a/gneiss/layouts.py
+++ b/gneiss/layouts.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Copyright (c) 2016--, gneiss development team.
 #
-# Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
+# Distributed under the terms of the GPLv3 License.
 #
 # The full license is in the file COPYING.txt, distributed with this software.
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/gneiss/tests/test_balances.py b/gneiss/tests/test_balances.py
index 3af8262..7096baf 100644
--- a/gneiss/tests/test_balances.py
+++ b/gneiss/tests/test_balances.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Copyright (c) 2016--, gneiss development team.
 #
-# Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
+# Distributed under the terms of the GPLv3 License.
 #
 # The full license is in the file COPYING.txt, distributed with this software.
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0d6d7a5..f6480ba 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Copyright (c) 2016--, gneiss development team.
 #
-# Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
+# Distributed under the terms of the GPLv3 License.
 #
 # The full license is in the file COPYING.txt, distributed with this software.
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ def finalize_options(self):
 
 classes = """
     Development Status :: 3 - Alpha
-    License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License
+    License :: OSI Approved :: GPLv3 License
     Topic :: Software Development :: Libraries
     Topic :: Scientific/Engineering
     Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Bio-Informatics