diff --git a/.markdownlint.yaml b/.markdownlint.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..30076380bb7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.markdownlint.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Default state for all rules
+default: true
+
+# ul-style
+MD004: false
+
+# hard-tabs
+MD010: false
+
+# line-length
+MD013: false
+
+# no-duplicate-header
+MD024:
+  siblings_only: true
+
+# ol-prefix
+MD029:
+  style: ordered
+
+# no-inline-html
+MD033: false
+
+# fenced-code-language
+MD040: false
+
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index db35c1db541..7938fd0d625 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.htm
 
 ### Changed
 
-- Make `NewSplitDriver` from `go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp` take variadic arguments instead of a `SplitConfig` item. 
+- Make `NewSplitDriver` from `go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp` take variadic arguments instead of a `SplitConfig` item.
   `NewSplitDriver` now automically implements an internal `noopDriver` for `SplitConfig` fields that are not initialized. (#1798)
 
 ### Deprecated
@@ -92,8 +92,7 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.htm
 - The `ParentContext` field of the `"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/trace".SamplingParameters` is updated to hold a `context.Context` containing the parent span.
   This changes it to make `SamplingParameters` conform with the OpenTelemetry specification. (#1749)
 - Updated Jaeger Environment Variables: `JAEGER_ENDPOINT`, `JAEGER_USER`, `JAEGER_PASSWORD`
-  to `OTEL_EXPORTER_JAEGER_ENDPOINT`, `OTEL_EXPORTER_JAEGER_USER`, `OTEL_EXPORTER_JAEGER_PASSWORD` 
-  in compliance with OTel spec (#1752)
+  to `OTEL_EXPORTER_JAEGER_ENDPOINT`, `OTEL_EXPORTER_JAEGER_USER`, `OTEL_EXPORTER_JAEGER_PASSWORD` in compliance with OTel specification. (#1752)
 - Modify `BatchSpanProcessor.ForceFlush` to abort after timeout/cancellation. (#1757)
 - The `DroppedAttributeCount` field of the `Span` in the `go.opentelemetry.io/otel` package now only represents the number of attributes dropped for the span itself.
   It no longer is a conglomerate of itself, events, and link attributes that have been dropped. (#1771)
@@ -223,7 +222,8 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.htm
 - Stagger timestamps in exact aggregator tests. (#1569)
 - Changed all examples to use `WithBatchTimeout(5 * time.Second)` rather than `WithBatchTimeout(5)`. (#1621)
 - Prevent end-users from implementing some interfaces (#1575)
-```
+
+  ```
       "otel/exporters/otlp/otlphttp".Option
       "otel/exporters/stdout".Option
       "otel/oteltest".Option
@@ -236,7 +236,8 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.htm
       "otel/sdk/trace".ParentBasedSamplerOption
       "otel/sdk/trace".ReadOnlySpan
       "otel/sdk/trace".ReadWriteSpan
-```
+  ```
+
 ### Removed
 
 - Removed attempt to resample spans upon changing the span name with `span.SetName()`. (#1545)
@@ -921,7 +922,6 @@ This release implements the v0.5.0 version of the OpenTelemetry specification.
 - Create a new recorder rather than reuse when multiple observations in same epoch for asynchronous instruments. #610
 - The default port the OTLP exporter uses to connect to the OpenTelemetry collector is updated to match the one the collector listens on by default. (#611)
 
-
 ## [0.4.2] - 2020-03-31
 
 ### Fixed
@@ -1074,7 +1074,6 @@ There is still a possibility of breaking changes.
 - `AlwaysParentSample` sampler to the trace API. (#455)
 - `WithNewRoot` option function to the trace API to specify the created span should be considered a root span. (#451)
 
-
 ### Changed
 
 - Renamed `WithMap` to `ContextWithMap` in the correlation package. (#481)
@@ -1228,7 +1227,6 @@ There is still a possibility of breaking changes.
    This allowed distinct label sets through, but any metrics sharing a label set could be overwritten or merged incorrectly.
    This was corrected. (#333)
 
-
 ## [0.1.2] - 2019-11-18
 
 ### Fixed
@@ -1288,7 +1286,6 @@ It contains api and sdk for trace and meter.
 - CircleCI build CI manifest files.
 - CODEOWNERS file to track owners of this project.
 
-
 [Unreleased]: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/compare/v0.20.0...HEAD
 [0.20.0]: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/releases/tag/v0.20.0
 [0.19.0]: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/releases/tag/v0.19.0
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 51ab52c6384..73df4022c30 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ You can view and edit the source code by cloning this repository:
 git clone https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go.git
 ```
 
-Run `make test` to run the tests instead of `go test`. 
+Run `make test` to run the tests instead of `go test`.
 
 There are some generated files checked into the repo. To make sure
 that the generated files are up-to-date, run `make` (or `make
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ To create a new PR, fork the project in GitHub and clone the upstream
 repo:
 
 ```sh
-$ go get -d go.opentelemetry.io/otel
+go get -d go.opentelemetry.io/otel
 ```
 
 (This may print some warning about "build constraints exclude all Go
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ This will put the project in `${GOPATH}/src/go.opentelemetry.io/otel`. You
 can alternatively use `git` directly with:
 
 ```sh
-$ git clone https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go
+git clone https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go
 ```
 
 (Note that `git clone` is *not* using the `go.opentelemetry.io/otel` name -
@@ -66,20 +66,20 @@ current working directory.
 Enter the newly created directory and add your fork as a new remote:
 
 ```sh
-$ git remote add <YOUR_FORK> git@github.com:<YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME>/opentelemetry-go
+git remote add <YOUR_FORK> git@github.com:<YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME>/opentelemetry-go
 ```
 
 Check out a new branch, make modifications, run linters and tests, update
 `CHANGELOG.md`, and push the branch to your fork:
 
 ```sh
-$ git checkout -b <YOUR_BRANCH_NAME>
+git checkout -b <YOUR_BRANCH_NAME>
 # edit files
 # update changelog
-$ make precommit
-$ git add -p
-$ git commit
-$ git push <YOUR_FORK> <YOUR_BRANCH_NAME>
+make precommit
+git add -p
+git commit
+git push <YOUR_FORK> <YOUR_BRANCH_NAME>
 ```
 
 Open a pull request against the main `opentelemetry-go` repo. Be sure to add the pull
@@ -140,8 +140,8 @@ It is preferable to have contributions follow the idioms of the
 language rather than conform to specific API names or argument
 patterns in the spec.
 
-For a deeper discussion, see:
-https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/issues/165
+For a deeper discussion, see
+[this](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/issues/165).
 
 ## Style Guide
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c841ba896e5..81f72ef7ab1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 [![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/go.opentelemetry.io/otel)](https://goreportcard.com/report/go.opentelemetry.io/otel)
 [![Slack](https://img.shields.io/badge/slack-@cncf/otel--go-brightgreen.svg?logo=slack)](https://cloud-native.slack.com/archives/C01NPAXACKT)
 
-
 The Go [OpenTelemetry](https://opentelemetry.io/) implementation.
 
 ## Project Status
diff --git a/RELEASING.md b/RELEASING.md
index 71d23b47a54..eb9c6e7171f 100644
--- a/RELEASING.md
+++ b/RELEASING.md
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ Update go.mod for submodules to depend on the new release which will happen in t
 4. Push the changes to upstream and create a Pull Request on GitHub.
     Be sure to include the curated changes from the [Changelog](./CHANGELOG.md) in the description.
 
-
 ## Tag
 
 Once the Pull Request with all the version changes has been approved and merged it is time to tag the merged commit.