diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..099daf883
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# xCAT
+
+xCAT is a toolkit for deployment and administration of clusters of all sizes.
+
+# Documentation 
+
+xCAT Documentation is hosted on Read The Docs: https://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io
+
+## Status
+
+| xCAT Version | Build Status | 
+|---|---|
+| Latest (master branch) | [![Documentation Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/xcat-docs/badge/?version=latest)](https://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) |
+| Stable (latest release) | [![Documentation Status](https://readthedocs.org/projects/xcat-docs/badge/?version=stable)](https://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/) |
+
+Looking for [older versions](https://readthedocs.org/projects/xcat-docs/versions/)?
+
+# Open Source License
+
+xCAT is made available under the EPL license: https://opensource.org/licenses/eclipse-1.0.php
+
+# Developers
+
+Want to help? Check out the [developers guide](http://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/developers)!
+
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
deleted file mode 100644
index 36d9cfc0c..000000000
--- a/README.rst
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-xCAT
-----
-
-xCAT is a toolkit for the deployment and administration of clusters.
-
-Documentation
--------------
-
-`The stable documentation of xCAT <https://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/>`_
-
-`The latest documentation of xCAT <http://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html>`_
-
-`The documentation of xCAT each release <http://readthedocs.org/projects/xcat-docs/versions/>`_
-
-
-Open Source License
--------------------
-
-xCAT is made available as open source software under the EPL license:
-http://www.opensource.org/licenses/eclipse-1.0.php
-
-Developers
-----------
-
-Developers and prospective contributors are encouraged to read the `Developers Guide <http://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/developers/>`_
-In particular the `GitHub <http://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/developers/github/>`_ related subsection.
diff --git a/docs/README.md b/docs/README.md
index 8b4779eaf..3c105885e 100644
--- a/docs/README.md
+++ b/docs/README.md
@@ -1,31 +1,29 @@
 # Welcome to the xCAT documentation
 
-The latest docs are here: http://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
+The xCAT docs are hosted here: https://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io/ and are written in reStructuredText (`.rst`). 
 
-The documentation project is written in restructured text (.rst) using Sphinx and hosted on ReadTheDocs.
+## Building Docs
 
-## Building Documentation
+* Clone this project 
 
-* Clone the project
-
-* Using pip, install or update sphinx (See: http://pip.readthedocs.org/)
+* Install or update sphinx (See: https://pip.readthedocs.io/)
    ```
-    pip install sphinx
+   pip install sphinx
    ```
    or
    ```
-    pip install sphinx --upgrade
+   pip install sphinx --upgrade
    ```
 
-* Using pip, install ReadTheDocs theme
+* Install ReadTheDocs theme
    ```
    pip install sphinx_rtd_theme
    ```
 
 * Build the Docs
    ```
-    cd xcat-core/docs
-    make html
+   cd xcat-core/docs
+   make html
    ```
 
-* View the docs by opening index.html from a web browser under xcat-core/docs/build/html/index.html
+* View the documentation by pointing a browser to: `xcat-core/docs/build/html/index.html`