diff --git a/src/animation.jl b/src/animation.jl
index 55a9fe53..4afa01cf 100644
--- a/src/animation.jl
+++ b/src/animation.jl
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-
+"Represents an animation object"
 immutable Animation
     dir::String
     frames::Vector{String}
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ function Animation()
     Animation(tmpdir, String[])
 end
 
+"""
+    frame(animation[, plot])
+
+Add a plot (the current plot if not specified) to an existing animation
+"""
 function frame{P<:AbstractPlot}(anim::Animation, plt::P=current())
     i = length(anim.frames) + 1
     filename = @sprintf("%06d.png", i)
@@ -81,7 +86,7 @@ function buildanimation(animdir::AbstractString, fn::AbstractString;
     catch err
         warn("""Tried to create gif using convert (ImageMagick), but got error: $err
             ImageMagick can be installed by executing `Pkg.add("ImageMagick")`.
-            You may also need to install the imagemagick c++ library through your operating system. 
+            You may also need to install the imagemagick c++ library through your operating system.
             Will try ffmpeg, but it's lower quality...)""")
 
         # low quality
diff --git a/src/components.jl b/src/components.jl
index 0ffe6226..eba135c2 100644
--- a/src/components.jl
+++ b/src/components.jl
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ vertices(shape::Shape) = collect(zip(shape.x, shape.y))
 #deprecated
 @deprecate shape_coords coords
 
+"return the vertex points from a Shape or Segments object"
 function coords(shape::Shape)
     shape.x, shape.y
 end
@@ -163,6 +164,7 @@ Shape(k::Symbol) = deepcopy(_shapes[k])
 
 
 # uses the centroid calculation from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centroid#Centroid_of_polygon
+"return the centroid of a Shape"
 function center(shape::Shape)
     x, y = coords(shape)
     n = length(x)
@@ -196,6 +198,7 @@ function scale(shape::Shape, x::Real, y::Real = x, c = center(shape))
     scale!(shapecopy, x, y, c)
 end
 
+"translate a Shape in space"
 function translate!(shape::Shape, x::Real, y::Real = x)
     sx, sy = coords(shape)
     for i=1:length(sx)
@@ -234,6 +237,7 @@ function rotate!(shape::Shape, Θ::Real, c = center(shape))
     shape
 end
 
+"rotate an object in space"
 function rotate(shape::Shape, Θ::Real, c = center(shape))
     shapecopy = deepcopy(shape)
     rotate!(shapecopy, Θ, c)
@@ -362,6 +366,11 @@ immutable Stroke
   style
 end
 
+"""
+    stroke(args...; alpha = nothing)
+
+Define the properties of the stroke used in plotting lines
+"""
 function stroke(args...; alpha = nothing)
   width = 1
   color = :black
@@ -609,6 +618,12 @@ immutable Arrow
     headwidth::Float64
 end
 
+"""
+    arrow(args...)
+
+Define arrowheads to apply to lines - args are `style` (`:open` or `:closed`),
+`side` (`:head`, `:tail` or `:both`), `headlength` and `headwidth`
+"""
 function arrow(args...)
     style = :simple
     side = :head
@@ -664,7 +679,7 @@ immutable Formatted{T}
 end
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
+"create a BezierCurve for plotting"
 type BezierCurve{T <: FixedSizeArrays.Vec}
     control_points::Vector{T}
 end
diff --git a/src/examples.jl b/src/examples.jl
index 87ae1ca4..8ae108ef 100644
--- a/src/examples.jl
+++ b/src/examples.jl
@@ -360,6 +360,13 @@ function test_examples(pkgname::Symbol, idx::Int; debug = false, disp = true)
 end
 
 # generate all plots and create a dict mapping idx --> plt
+"""
+test_examples(pkgname[, idx]; debug = false, disp = true, sleep = nothing,
+                                        skip = [], only = nothing
+
+Run the `idx` test example for a given backend, or all examples if `idx`
+is not specified. 
+"""
 function test_examples(pkgname::Symbol; debug = false, disp = true, sleep = nothing,
                                         skip = [], only = nothing)
   Plots._debugMode.on = debug
diff --git a/src/plotattr.jl b/src/plotattr.jl
index cc8d053b..7313b2ce 100644
--- a/src/plotattr.jl
+++ b/src/plotattr.jl
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@ function lookup_aliases(attrtype, attribute)
     error("There is no attribute named $attribute in $attrtype")
 end
 
+"""
+    plotattr([attr])
+
+Look up the properties of a Plots attribute, or specify an attribute type. Call `plotattr()` for options.
+The information is the same as that given on https://juliaplots.github.io/attributes/.
+"""
 function plotattr()
     println("Specify an attribute type to get a list of supported attributes. Options are $(attrtypes())")
 end
diff --git a/src/recipes.jl b/src/recipes.jl
index f5cb9b73..393bc2d4 100644
--- a/src/recipes.jl
+++ b/src/recipes.jl
@@ -847,6 +847,7 @@ end
 
 # TODO: move OHLC to PlotRecipes finance.jl
 
+"Represent Open High Low Close data (used in finance)"
 type OHLC{T<:Real}
   open::T
   high::T
diff --git a/src/utils.jl b/src/utils.jl
index 6add802a..7e67f877 100644
--- a/src/utils.jl
+++ b/src/utils.jl
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ function imageHack(d::KW)
 end
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------
 
-
+"Build line segments for plotting"
 type Segments{T}
     pts::Vector{T}
 end
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ type SegmentsIterator
     args::Tuple
     n::Int
 end
+
 function iter_segments(args...)
     tup = Plots.wraptuple(args)
     n = maximum(map(length, tup))