diff --git a/docs/api-guide/filtering.md b/docs/api-guide/filtering.md
index 7e99832ee..a710ad7dd 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/filtering.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/filtering.md
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ For more details, see the [Django documentation][search-django-admin].
 
 ## OrderingFilter
 
-The `OrderingFilter` class supports simple query parameter controlled ordering of results.  For example:
+The `OrderingFilter` class supports simple query parameter controlled ordering of results.  To specify the result order, set a query parameter named `'order'` to the required field name.  For example:
 
     http://example.com/api/users?ordering=username
 
diff --git a/rest_framework/filters.py b/rest_framework/filters.py
index 308e7da2c..6a3e055d4 100644
--- a/rest_framework/filters.py
+++ b/rest_framework/filters.py
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ class SearchFilter(BaseFilterBackend):
 
 
 class OrderingFilter(BaseFilterBackend):
-    ordering_param = 'order'  # The URL query parameter used for the ordering.
+    ordering_param = 'ordering'  # The URL query parameter used for the ordering.
 
     def get_ordering(self, request):
         """
diff --git a/rest_framework/tests/filters.py b/rest_framework/tests/filters.py
index 6b604deb1..b20d59805 100644
--- a/rest_framework/tests/filters.py
+++ b/rest_framework/tests/filters.py
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ class OrderingFilterTests(TestCase):
             ordering = ('title',)
 
         view = OrderingListView.as_view()
-        request = factory.get('?order=text')
+        request = factory.get('?ordering=text')
         response = view(request)
         self.assertEqual(
             response.data,
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ class OrderingFilterTests(TestCase):
             ordering = ('title',)
 
         view = OrderingListView.as_view()
-        request = factory.get('?order=-text')
+        request = factory.get('?ordering=-text')
         response = view(request)
         self.assertEqual(
             response.data,
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ class OrderingFilterTests(TestCase):
             ordering = ('title',)
 
         view = OrderingListView.as_view()
-        request = factory.get('?order=foobar')
+        request = factory.get('?ordering=foobar')
         response = view(request)
         self.assertEqual(
             response.data,