  To enable detection and maximise the physics output of gravitational wave
observations from compact binary systems, it is crucial the availability of
accurate waveform models. The present work aims at giving an overview for
non-experts of the (inspiral) waveforms used in the gravitational wave data
analysis for compact binary coalescence. We first provide the essential
elements of gravitational radiation physics within a simple Newtonian orbital
dynamics and the linearized gravity theory, describing the adiabatic
approximation applied to binary systems: the key element to construct the
theoretical gravitational waveforms in practice. We next lay out the
gravitational waveforms in the post-Newtonian approximation to General
Relativity, and highlight the basic input for the inspiral waveform of the
slowly evolving, spinning, nonprecessing, quasicircular binary black holes,
namely, post-Newtonian energy, fluxes and the (absorption-corrected) balance
equation. The post-Newtonian inspiral templates are then presented both in the
time and frequency domain. Finally, including the merger and subsequent
ringdown phase, we briefly survey the two families of the full waveform models
of compact binary mergers currently implemented in LSC Algorithm Library
Simulation: the effective-one-body approach and the phenomenological frequency
domain model.
