diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 018bef311a..299962255e 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ Trunk (unreleased changes)
 
     HADOOP-8308. Support cross-project Jenkins builds. (tomwhite)
 
+    HADOOP-8297. Writable javadocs don't carry default constructor (harsh)
+
   BUG FIXES
 
     HADOOP-8177. MBeans shouldn't try to register when it fails to create MBeanName.
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/Writable.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/Writable.java
index 39557a13f3..f0fe6fb830 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/Writable.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/Writable.java
@@ -39,20 +39,23 @@
  * <p>Example:</p>
  * <p><blockquote><pre>
  *     public class MyWritable implements Writable {
- *       // Some data     
+ *       // Some data
  *       private int counter;
  *       private long timestamp;
- *       
+ *
+ *       // Default constructor to allow (de)serialization
+ *       MyWritable() { }
+ *
  *       public void write(DataOutput out) throws IOException {
  *         out.writeInt(counter);
  *         out.writeLong(timestamp);
  *       }
- *       
+ *
  *       public void readFields(DataInput in) throws IOException {
  *         counter = in.readInt();
  *         timestamp = in.readLong();
  *       }
- *       
+ *
  *       public static MyWritable read(DataInput in) throws IOException {
  *         MyWritable w = new MyWritable();
  *         w.readFields(in);