diff --git a/docs/specs/spec-meta-deposit.rst b/docs/specs/spec-meta-deposit.rst
index 2d682449..9ba0c8ef 100644
--- a/docs/specs/spec-meta-deposit.rst
+++ b/docs/specs/spec-meta-deposit.rst
@@ -1,31 +1,104 @@
 The meta-deposit
 ================
 
 Goal
 ----
 A client wishes to deposit only metadata about an object in the Software
 Heritage archive.
 
 The meta-deposit is a special deposit where no content is
 deposited and the data transfered to Software Heritage is only
 the metadata about an object or several objects in the archive.
 
-The scope of the meta-deposit is larger than the sparse-deposit, because
-with a meta-deposit all types of objects in the archive can be described
-with the deposited metadata:
+The scope of the meta-deposit is different than the
+sparse-deposit, while a sparse-deposit creates a revision with referenced
+directories and content files, the meta-deposit references one of the following:
 
 - origin
 - snapshot
 - revision
 - release
-- directory
-- content
 
 
+A complete metadata example
+---------------------------
+The reference element is included in the metadata xml atomEntry under the
+swh namespace:
+
+.. code:: xml
+
+  <?xml version="1.0"?>
+    <entry xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
+             xmlns:codemeta="https://doi.org/10.5063/SCHEMA/CODEMETA-2.0"
+             xmlns:swh="swh.xsd">
+        <author>
+          <name>HAL</name>
+          <email>hal@ccsd.cnrs.fr</email>
+        </author>
+        <client>hal</client>
+        <external_identifier>hal-01243573</external_identifier>
+        <codemeta:name>The assignment problem</codemeta:name>
+        <codemeta:url>https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01243573</codemeta:url>
+        <codemeta:identifier>other identifier, DOI, ARK</codemeta:identifier>
+        <codemeta:applicationCategory>Domain</codemeta:applicationCategory>
+        <codemeta:description>description</codemeta:description>
+        <codemeta:author>
+            <codemeta:name> author1 </codemeta:name>
+            <codemeta:affiliation> Inria </codemeta:affiliation>
+            <codemeta:affiliation> UPMC </codemeta:affiliation>
+        </codemeta:author>
+        <codemeta:author>
+            <codemeta:name> author2 </codemeta:name>
+            <codemeta:affiliation> Inria </codemeta:affiliation>
+            <codemeta:affiliation> UPMC </codemeta:affiliation>
+        </codemeta:author>
+        <swh:deposit>
+          <swh:reference>
+            <swh:type> origin </swh:type>
+            <swh:target> https://github.com/user/repo </swh:target>
+          </swh:reference>
+        </swh:deposit>
+    </entry>
+
+examples by target type
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+snapshot
+*********
+.. code:: xml
+
+  <swh:deposit>
+    <swh:reference>
+      <swh:type> snapshot </swh:type>
+      <swh:target> swh:1:snp:aaaaaaaaaaaaaa... </swh:target>
+    </swh:reference>
+  </swh:deposit>
+
+revision
+********
+.. code:: xml
+
+  <swh:deposit>
+    <swh:reference>
+      <swh:type> revision </swh:type>
+      <swh:target> swh:1:rev:aaaaa............ </swh:target>
+    </swh:reference>
+  </swh:deposit>
+
+release
+*******
+.. code:: xml
+
+  <swh:deposit>
+    <swh:reference>
+      <swh:type> release </swh:type>
+      <swh:target> swh:1:rel:aaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... </swh:target>
+    </swh:reference>
+  </swh:deposit>
+
 Loading procedure
 ------------------
 
 In this case, the meta-deposit will be injected as a metadata entry at the
 appropriate level (origin_metadata, revision_metadata, etc.) and won't result
 in  the creation of a new object like with the complete deposit and the
 sparse-deposit.