diff --git a/reference/mongo/mongodbref.xml b/reference/mongo/mongodbref.xml
index 5b4b67b7da..ce39a01565 100644
--- a/reference/mongo/mongodbref.xml
+++ b/reference/mongo/mongodbref.xml
@@ -80,6 +80,17 @@ $people->insert(array("name" => "Fred", "likes" => array($trainRef, $soccerRef))
 ]]>
     </programlisting>
    </para>
+   <para>
+    Database references can be thought of as hyperlinks: they give the unique 
+    address of another document, but they do not load it or automatically follow
+    the link/reference.  
+   </para>
+   <para>
+    A database reference is just a normal associative array, not an instance of
+    <classname>MongoDBRef</classname>, so this class is a little different than 
+    the other data type classes.  This class contains exclusively static methods 
+    for manipulating database references.
+   </para>
   </section>
 <!-- }}} -->