Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a non-invasive diagnostic tool which is widely used nowadays. In this paper, the basic principles of MR imaging are explained and it is shown how images can be reconstructed in case of standard 2D Fourier Transform (2DFT) imaging. Several aspects of MR signal encoding are described. Unfortunately, motion of the patient during a magnetic resonance experiment often causes severe artifacts in the images. For example, in 2DFT imaging blurring and ghosting are seen and the appearance of motion artifacts remains one of the major drawbacks in MR imaging. Several methods to reduce motion artifacts in MR imaging have been proposed in the past. An overview of the principles on which these methods are based is given in this paper. Both post-processing methods and techniques that rely on gating or the use of alternative acquisition schemes such as projection reconstruction are discussed.