diff --git a/changelog.d/276.doc.rst b/changelog.d/276.doc.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c3907049
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/276.doc.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+The treq documentation has been revised to emphasize use of `treq.client.HTTPClient` over the module-level convenience functions in the `treq` module.
diff --git a/docs/api.rst b/docs/api.rst
index 12e994e5..af968ce1 100644
--- a/docs/api.rst
+++ b/docs/api.rst
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ This page lists all of the interfaces exposed by the `treq` package.
 Making Requests
 ---------------
 
+The :py:mod:`treq` module provides several convenience functions for making requests.
+These functions all create a default :py:class:`treq.client.HTTPClient` instance and pass their arguments to the appropriate :py:class:`~treq.client.HTTPClient` method.
+
 .. module:: treq
 
 .. autofunction:: request
@@ -24,14 +27,14 @@ Accessing Content
 .. autofunction:: text_content
 .. autofunction:: json_content
 
-HTTPClient Objects
-------------------
+The HTTP Client
+===============
 
 .. module:: treq.client
 
-The :class:`treq.client.HTTPClient` class provides the same interface as the :mod:`treq` module itself.
+:class:`treq.client.HTTPClient` has methods that match the signatures of the convenience request functions in the :mod:`treq` module.
 
-.. autoclass:: HTTPClient
+.. autoclass:: HTTPClient(agent, cookiejar=None, data_to_body_producer=IBodyProducer)
 
     .. automethod:: request
     .. automethod:: get
@@ -79,6 +82,8 @@ Augmented Response Objects
 Test Helpers
 ------------
 
+.. module:: treq.testing
+
 The :mod:`treq.testing` module contains tools for in-memory testing of HTTP clients and servers.
 
 StubTreq Objects
diff --git a/docs/examples/custom_agent.py b/docs/examples/custom_agent.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0318b03c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/examples/custom_agent.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+from treq.client import HTTPClient
+from _utils import print_response
+from twisted.internet.task import react
+from twisted.web.client import Agent
+
+def make_custom_agent(reactor):
+    return Agent(reactor, connectTimeout=42)
+
+def main(reactor, *args):
+    agent = make_custom_agent(reactor)
+    http_client = HTTPClient(agent)
+    d = http_client.get(
+        'https://secure.example.net/area51',
+        auth=('admin', "you'll never guess!"))
+    d.addCallback(print_response)
+    return d
+
+react(main, [])
+
diff --git a/docs/howto.rst b/docs/howto.rst
index aabecf7f..f01bd740 100644
--- a/docs/howto.rst
+++ b/docs/howto.rst
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Full example: :download:`download_file.py <examples/download_file.py>`
 Query Parameters
 ----------------
 
-:py:func:`treq.request` supports a ``params`` keyword argument which will
+:py:func:`treq.HTTPClient.request` supports a ``params`` keyword argument which will
 be URL-encoded and added to the ``url`` argument in addition to any query
 parameters that may already exist.
 
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ Cookies
 
 Cookies can be set by passing a ``dict`` or ``cookielib.CookieJar`` instance
 via the ``cookies`` keyword argument.  Later cookies set by the server can be
-retrieved using the :py:meth:`~treq.response._Response.cookies()` method.
+retrieved using the :py:meth:`~treq.response._Response.cookies()` method of the response.
 
 The object returned by :py:meth:`~treq.response._Response.cookies()` supports the same key/value
 access as `requests cookies <https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/quickstart/#cookies>`_.
@@ -102,25 +102,21 @@ access as `requests cookies <https://requests.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/quic
 
 Full example: :download:`using_cookies.py <examples/using_cookies.py>`
 
-Agent Customization
--------------------
+Customizing the Twisted Agent
+-----------------------------
 
-treq creates its own `twisted.web.client.Agent
-<https://twistedmatrix.com/documents/current/api/twisted.web.client.Agent.html>`_
-with reasonable defaults, but you may want to provide your own custom agent.
-A custom agent can be passed to the various treq request methods using the
-``agent`` keyword argument.
+The main :py:mod:`treq` module has helper functions that automatically instantiate
+an instance of :py:class:`treq.client.HTTPClient`.  You can create an instance
+of :py:class:`~treq.client.HTTPClient` directly in order to customize the 
+paramaters used to initialize it.
+Internally, the :py:class:`~treq.client.HTTPClient` wraps an instance of 
+:py:class:`twisted.web.client.Agent`.  When you create an instance of 
+:py:class:`~treq.client.HTTPClient`, you must initialize it with an instance of
+:py:class:`~twisted.web.client.Agent`.  This allows you to customize its
+behavior.
 
-.. code-block:: python
-
-    custom_agent = Agent(reactor, connectTimeout=42)
-    treq.get(url, agent=custom_agent)
-
-Additionally a custom client can be instantiated to use a custom agent
-using the ``agent`` keyword argument:
-
-.. code-block:: python
+.. literalinclude:: examples/custom_agent.py
+    :linenos:
+    :lines: 6-19
 
-    custom_agent = Agent(reactor, connectTimeout=42)
-    client = treq.client.HTTPClient(agent=custom_agent)
-    client.get(url)
+Full example: :download:`custom_agent.py <examples/custom_agent.py>`