diff --git a/docs/topics/downloader-middleware.rst b/docs/topics/downloader-middleware.rst
index 6801adc9c..b539c23df 100644
--- a/docs/topics/downloader-middleware.rst
+++ b/docs/topics/downloader-middleware.rst
@@ -892,6 +892,11 @@ settings (see the settings documentation for more info):
 If :attr:`Request.meta <scrapy.http.Request.meta>` has ``dont_retry`` key
 set to True, the request will be ignored by this middleware.
 
+To retry requests from a spider callback, you can use the
+:func:`get_retry_request` function:
+
+.. autofunction:: get_retry_request
+
 RetryMiddleware Settings
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
@@ -932,6 +937,18 @@ In some cases you may want to add 400 to :setting:`RETRY_HTTP_CODES` because
 it is a common code used to indicate server overload. It is not included by
 default because HTTP specs say so.
 
+.. setting:: RETRY_PRIORITY_ADJUST
+
+RETRY_PRIORITY_ADJUST
+---------------------
+
+Default: ``-1``
+
+Adjust retry request priority relative to original request:
+
+- a positive priority adjust means higher priority.
+- **a negative priority adjust (default) means lower priority.**
+
 
 .. _topics-dlmw-robots:
 
diff --git a/docs/topics/settings.rst b/docs/topics/settings.rst
index 0086a6c74..7c5e9ef6f 100644
--- a/docs/topics/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/topics/settings.rst
@@ -1188,20 +1188,6 @@ Adjust redirect request priority relative to original request:
 - **a positive priority adjust (default) means higher priority.**
 - a negative priority adjust means lower priority.
 
-.. setting:: RETRY_PRIORITY_ADJUST
-
-RETRY_PRIORITY_ADJUST
----------------------
-
-Default: ``-1``
-
-Scope: ``scrapy.downloadermiddlewares.retry.RetryMiddleware``
-
-Adjust retry request priority relative to original request:
-
-- a positive priority adjust means higher priority.
-- **a negative priority adjust (default) means lower priority.**
-
 .. setting:: ROBOTSTXT_OBEY
 
 ROBOTSTXT_OBEY
diff --git a/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/retry.py b/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/retry.py
index 5f9bc756c..046e3ea71 100644
--- a/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/retry.py
+++ b/scrapy/downloadermiddlewares/retry.py
@@ -39,16 +39,51 @@ def get_retry_request(
     max_retry_times=None,
     priority_adjust=None,
 ):
+    """
+    Returns a new :class:`~scrapy.Request` object to retry the specified
+    request, or ``None`` if retries of the specified request have been
+    exhausted.
+
+    For example, in a :class:`~scrapy.Spider` callback, you could use it as
+    follows::
+
+        def parse(self, response):
+            if not response.text:
+                new_request = get_retry_request(
+                    response.request,
+                    spider=self,
+                    reason='empty',
+                )
+                if new_request:
+                    yield new_request
+                return
+
+    *spider* is the :class:`~scrapy.Spider` instance which is asking for the
+    retry request. It is used to access the :ref:`settings <topics-settings>`
+    and :ref:`stats <topics-stats>`, and to provide extra logging context (see
+    :func:`logging.debug`).
+
+    *reason* is a string or an :class:`Exception` object that indicates the
+    reason why the request needs to be retried. It is used to name retry stats.
+
+    *max_retry_times* is a number that determines the maximum number of times
+    that *request* can be retried. If not specified or ``None``, the number is
+    read from the :reqmeta:`max_retry_times` meta key of the request. If the
+    :reqmeta:`max_retry_times` meta key is not defined or ``None``, the number
+    is read from the :setting:`RETRY_TIMES` setting.
+
+    *priority_adjust* is a number that determines how the priority of the new
+    request changes in relation to *request*. If not specified, the number is
+    read from the :setting:`RETRY_PRIORITY_ADJUST` setting.
+    """
     settings = spider.crawler.settings
     stats = spider.crawler.stats
     retry_times = request.meta.get('retry_times', 0) + 1
-    request_max_retry_times = request.meta.get(
-        'max_retry_times',
-        max_retry_times,
-    )
-    if request_max_retry_times is None:
-        request_max_retry_times = settings.getint('RETRY_TIMES')
-    if retry_times <= request_max_retry_times:
+    if max_retry_times is None:
+        max_retry_times = request.meta.get('max_retry_times')
+    if max_retry_times is None:
+        max_retry_times = settings.getint('RETRY_TIMES')
+    if retry_times <= max_retry_times:
         logger.debug(
             "Retrying %(request)s (failed %(retry_times)d times): %(reason)s",
             {'request': request, 'retry_times': retry_times, 'reason': reason},