Abstract: This talk will be an introduction to techniques in knot theory. Instead of beginning with knot invariants like crossing number, colorings, and the knot group, I will start by discussing polynomial knot invariants. In particular, we will discuss the Jones polynomial and the Alexander polynomial. Then, we will see how polynomial invariants are related to a new knot invariant, Khovanov homology. Khovanov homology was introduced by M. Khovanov in 2000 and has sparked a new direction in the study of knots. This theory "categorifies" the Jones polynomial. I will explain what this means and I will finish by discussing a categorifcation for the Alexander polynomial.