diff --git a/src/utils.jl b/src/utils.jl
index 581f9e01..1be5ded5 100644
--- a/src/utils.jl
+++ b/src/utils.jl
@@ -11,8 +11,23 @@ unstack(xs, dim) = [slicedim(xs, dim, i) for i = 1:size(xs, dim)]
 
 batchindex(xs, i) = (reverse(Base.tail(reverse(indices(xs))))..., i)
 
+"""
+  batch(xs)
+
+Batch the arrays in `xs` into a single array.
+
+```julia
+julia> batch([[1,2,3],[4,5,6]])
+3×2 Array{Int64,2}:
+ 1  4
+ 2  5
+ 3  6
+```
+"""
 function batch(xs)
-  data = similar(first(xs), size(first(xs))..., length(xs))
+  data = first(xs) isa AbstractArray ?
+    similar(first(xs), size(first(xs))..., length(xs)) :
+    Vector{eltype(xs)}(length(xs))
   for (i, x) in enumerate(xs)
     data[batchindex(data, i)...] = x
   end
@@ -21,7 +36,21 @@ end
 
 Base.rpad(v::AbstractVector, n::Integer, p) = [v; fill(p, max(n - length(v), 0))]
 
-function batchseq(xs, pad, n = maximum(length(x) for x in xs))
+"""
+    batchseq(seqs, pad)
+
+Take a list of `N` sequences, and turn them into a single sequence where each
+item is a batch of `N`. Short sequences will be padded by `pad`.
+
+```julia
+julia> batchseq([[1, 2, 3], [4, 5]], 0)
+3-element Array{Array{Int64,1},1}:
+ [1, 4]
+ [2, 5]
+ [3, 0]
+```
+"""
+function batchseq(xs, pad = nothing, n = maximum(length(x) for x in xs))
   xs_ = [rpad(x, n, pad) for x in xs]
   [batch([xs_[j][i] for j = 1:length(xs_)]) for i = 1:n]
 end