Abstract : In these lectures, we will review what it means for a 3-manifold to have a hyperbolic structure, and give tools to show that a manifold is hyperbolic. We will also discuss how to decompose examples of 3-manifolds, such as knot complements, into simpler pieces. We give conditions that allow us to use these simpler pieces to determine information about the hyperbolic geometry of the original manifold. Most of the tools we present were developed in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, but continue to have modern applications.