diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f5beb34..18b90f0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,2 +1,14 @@
-# consent
-chemoinformatics tool for ligand-based virtual screening
+# Consent
+Chemoinformatics software for Ligand-Based Virtual Screening (LBVS)
+using consensus queries.
+
+# Usage
+
+    ./consent -s {sing|oppo|opti|real|know} -q queries.{sdf|mol2|csv|ecfp4} -db candidates.{sdf|mol2|csv|ecfp4}
+
+      -s <strat> consensus strategy {sing|oppo|opti|real|know} (mandatory)
+      -q <filename> queries file (known actives; mandatory)
+      -db <filename> database to rank order (mandatory)
+      -o <filename> where to write scores (can be combined with -top)
+      -n <int> consensus size; #known actives used to create query (optional; default=all molecules in query file)
+      -top <int> how many top scoring molecules to write out (optional; default=all; must be combined with -o)