diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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@@ -62,6 +62,35 @@ This project uses [Semantic Versioning 2.0.0](http://semver.org).  Accepted pull
 
 While we try to make it obvious when we make breaking changes, there isn't a great mechanism for pushing announcements out to users.  You may want to use this alternative package include: `gopkg.in/dgrijalva/jwt-go.v2`.  It will do the right thing WRT semantic versioning.
 
+## Usage Tips
+
+### Signing vs Encryption
+
+A token is simply a JSON object that is signed by its author. this tells you exactly two things about the data:
+
+* The author of the token was in the possession of the signing secret
+* The data has not been modified since it was signed
+
+It's important to know that JWT does not provide encryption, which means anyone who has access to the token can read its contents. If you need to protect (encrypt) the data, there is a companion spec, `JWE`, that provides this functionality. JWE is currently outside the scope of this library.
+
+### Choosing a Signing Method
+
+There are several signing methods available, and you should probably take the time to learn about the various options before choosing one.  The principal design decision is most likely going to be symmetric vs asymmetric.
+
+Symmetric signing methods, such as HSA, use only a single secret. This is probably the simplest signing method to use since any `[]byte` can be used as a valid secret. They are also slightly computationally faster to use, though this rarely is enough to matter. Symmetric signing methods work the best when both producers and consumers of tokens are trusted, or even the same system. Since the same secret is used to both sign and validate tokens, you can't easily distribute the key for validation.
+
+Asymmetric signing methods, such as RSA, use different keys for signing and verifying tokens. This makes it possible to produce tokens with a private key, and allow any consumer to access the public key for verification.
+
+### JWT and OAuth
+
+It's worth mentioning that OAuth and JWT are not the same thing. A JWT token is simply a signed JSON object. It can be used anywhere such a thing is useful. There is some confusion, though, as JWT is the most common type of bearer token used in OAuth2 authentication.
+
+Without going too far down the rabbit hole, here's a description of the interaction of these technologies:
+
+* OAuth is a protocol for allowing an identity provider to be separate from the service a user is logging in to.  For example, whenever you use Facebook to log into a different service (Yelp, Spotify, etc), you are using OAuth.
+* OAuth defines several options for passing around authentication data. One popular method is called a "bearer token". A bearer token is simply a string that _should_ only be held by an authenticated user. Thus, simply presenting this token proves your identity. You can probably derive from here why a JWT might make a good bearer token.
+* Because bearer tokens are used for authentication, it's important they're kept secret. This is why transactions that use bearer tokens typically happen over SSL.
+ 
 ## More
 
 Documentation can be found [on godoc.org](http://godoc.org/github.com/dgrijalva/jwt-go).