diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING b/CONTRIBUTING.md
similarity index 71%
rename from CONTRIBUTING
rename to CONTRIBUTING.md
index 55fcedcc..78d78f7b 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -1,8 +1,17 @@
-A good way to help is to test, and report bugs.
-See http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html if you
-want to help that way. Testing is invaluable in making a piece
+# Contributing to Monero
+
+A good way to help is to test, and report bugs. See
+[How to Report Bugs Effectively (by Simon Tatham)](http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html)
+if you want to help that way. Testing is invaluable in making a piece
 of software solid and usable.
 
+
+## General Guidelines
+
+* Comments are encouraged.
+* If modifying code for which Doxygen headers exist, that header must be modified to match.
+* Tests would be nice to have if you're adding functionality.
+
 Patches are preferably to be sent via a github pull request. If that
 can't be done, patches in "git format-patch" format can be sent
 (eg, posted to fpaste.org with a long enough timeout and a link
@@ -16,15 +25,12 @@ modifying is encourgaged. Proper squashing should be done (eg, if
 you're making a buggy patch, then a later patch to fix the bug,
 both patches should be merged).
 
+## Commits and Pull Requests
+
 Commit messages should be sensible. That means a subject line that
 describes the patch, with an optional longer body that gives details,
 documentation, etc.
 
-Comments are encouraged.
-
-If modifying code for which Doxygen headers exist, that header must
-be modified to match.
-
 When submitting a pull request on github, make sure your branch is
 rebased. No merge commits nor stray commits from other people in
 your submitted branch, please. You may be asked to rebase if there
@@ -32,5 +38,3 @@ are conflicts (even trivially resolvable ones).
 
 PGP signing commits is strongly encouraged. That should explain why
 the previous paragraph is here.
-
-Tests would be nice to have if you're adding functionality.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d2741da7..fba14588 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -80,6 +80,10 @@ There are also several mining pools that kindly donate a portion of their fees,
 
 See [LICENSE](LICENSE).
 
+# Contributing
+
+If you want to help out, see [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md) for a set of guidelines.
+
 ## Monero software updates and consensus protocol changes (hard fork schedule)
 
 Monero uses a fixed-schedule hard fork mechanism to implement new features. This means that users of Monero (end users and service providers) need to run current versions and update their software on a regular schedule. Here is the current schedule, versions, and compatibility.
@@ -378,10 +382,6 @@ While monerod and monero-wallet-cli do not use readline directly, most of the fu
 
 Note: rlwrap will save things like your seed and private keys, if you supply them on prompt. You may want to not use rlwrap when you use simplewallet to restore from seed, etc.
 
-# Contributing
-
-If you want to help out, see CONTRIBUTING for a set of guidelines.
-
 # Debugging
 
 This section contains general instructions for debugging failed installs or problems encountered with Monero. First ensure you are running the latest version built from the github repo.