diff --git a/basis/io/encodings/string/string-docs.factor b/basis/io/encodings/string/string-docs.factor
index 0fbd753266..9d50267395 100644
--- a/basis/io/encodings/string/string-docs.factor
+++ b/basis/io/encodings/string/string-docs.factor
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-! Copyright (C) 2008 Daniel Ehrenberg.
+! Copyright (C) 2008,2011 Daniel Ehrenberg, Doug Coleman.
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
-USING: help.markup help.syntax byte-arrays strings ;
+USING: byte-arrays help.markup help.syntax io.encodings.string
+strings ;
 IN: io.encodings.string
 
 ARTICLE: "io.encodings.string" "Encoding and decoding strings"
@@ -14,8 +15,20 @@ ARTICLE: "io.encodings.string" "Encoding and decoding strings"
 HELP: decode
 { $values { "byte-array" byte-array } { "encoding" "an encoding descriptor" }
     { "string" string } }
-{ $description "Decodes the byte array using the given encoding, outputting a string" } ;
+{ $description "Converts an array of bytes to a string, interpreting that array of bytes as a string with the given encoding." }
+{ $examples
+    { $example """USING: io.encodings.string io.encodings.utf8 prettyprint ;
+B{ 230 136 145 231 136 177 228 189 160 } utf8 decode ."""
+""""我爱你""""
+    }
+} ;
 
 HELP: encode 
 { $values { "string" string } { "encoding" "an encoding descriptor" } { "byte-array" byte-array } }
-{ $description "Encodes the given string into a byte array with the given encoding." } ;
+{ $description "Converts a string into a byte array, interpreting that string with the given encoding." }
+{ $examples
+    { $example """USING: io.encodings.string io.encodings.utf8 prettyprint ;
+"我爱你" utf8 encode ."""
+"B{ 230 136 145 231 136 177 228 189 160 }"
+    }
+} ;