Data Science

COSC 375

πŸ“‹ General

  • Syllabus
  • R for Data Science (2nd Edition): Our textbook, which provides a broad overview of the field using R as the language of choice
  • DataCamp: An online platform for learning data science - you’ll need to create an account using your Wofford email address

⏰ Upcoming Events

  • The National Consortium for Data Science (Upcoming Events)
  • Behind the Screens of a Crime Analyst: A Panel Discussion (Tuesday - March 24, 2026 at 1:00PM via Zoom)
    • Register here if interested

πŸ“Š General Data Science

  • Data Science Prep: Get exceptionally good at data science interviews by getting real interview questions in your email inbox
  • Kaggle: A great website for finding and sharing datasets, joining competitions, etc.

πŸ› οΈ R/IDEs

  • R: A programming language that excels at data analytics
  • IDEs (Integrated Development Environments)
    • RStudio: An IDE that is built for working in R and data science
    • Positron: A next-generation data science IDE
    • Visual Studio Code (VS Code): An IDE from Microsoft that is generalized to any type of programming language
  • CRAN Package List: A list of the 20,000+ R packages that can be installed using the install.packages() function
  • Posit Cheatsheet Collection: An excellent collection of printable cheatsheets on various R-based data science tools (RStudio, Quarto, ggplot2, shiny, etc.)
  • Tidyverse: An opinionated collection of R packages designed for data science. All packages share an underlying design philosophy, grammar, and data structures
  • ggplot2

πŸ–₯️ Code Examples

  • Coming soon

πŸ“… Course Schedule

Week Date Topics Due
1 Feb 4th (Wednesday)

Course Introduction

For next time: Read the syllabus, download and install R and Positron (or RStudio), sign up on DataCamp using the invitation link above, and start working on your first DataCamp assignment.
Feb 6th (Friday)

The R Programming Language / Positron

For next time: Continue learning your way around Positron, and play around with R. We will continue with more R next time. Finish your first DataCamp course by Monday night (11:59PM). You will usually have 3 data camp courses every two weeks.
2 Feb 9th (Monday)

The R Programming Language / Positron

For next time: Continue learning your way around Positron, and play around with R. Your first DataCamp course is due tonight, and your second course is due Friday night. They will always be due 11:59PM of their due date. We will move into data visualization next time.
  • DC (Introduction to R)
Feb 11th (Wednesday)

Data Visualization with ggplot2

For next time: We will continue learning about data visualization using the ggplot2 package. Since we are going to be using several packages in the TidyVerse, I recommend installing the entire Tidyverse by running install.packages("tidyverse"). Start reading Chapters 1 and 2 of your textbook.
Feb 13th (Friday)

Data Visualization with ggplot2

For next time: We will continue learning about data visualization using the ggplot2 package. Don’t forget to keep up with the DataCamp courses.
  • DC: Intermediate R
3 Feb 16th (Monday)

Data Visualization with ggplot2 / Kaggle

For next time: We will finish up the introduction to data visualization using ggplot2, and start moving into data wrangling with the dplyr package (which is part of the tidyverse). Read Chapter 1 of your textbook.
Feb 18th (Wednesday)

Color / Data Transformation with dplyr

For next time: We will continue learning about data wrangling using dplyr. Start reading Chapter 3 of your textbook. Remember to keep up with the DataCamp courses.
  • DC: Introduction to the Tidyverse
  • Read Chapters 1 and 2
Feb 20th (Friday)

Data Transformation with dplyr

For next time: We will continue learning about data wrangling using dplyr. Your next DataCamp course is due Monday night.
4 Feb 23rd (Monday)

Data Transformation with dplyr

For next time: We will start moving into text data. Your next DataCamp course is tonight.
  • DC: Introduction to Data Visualization with ggplot2
Feb 25th (Wednesday)

Strings and Regular Expressions with stringr

For next time: We will continue learning about regular expressions.
Feb 27th (Friday)

Strings and Regular Expressions with stringr

For next time: Your next DataCamp course is due tonight, and I’ve already assigned the one for next week.
  • DC: Intermediate Data Visualization with ggplot2
5 Mar 2nd (Monday)

Dates and Times with lubridate

For next time: You have a DataCamp course due Wednesday. We will finish up the lubridate package next time.
Mar 4th (Wednesday) Dates and Times with lubridate
  • DC: Data Manipulation with dplyr
Mar 6th (Friday)
6 Mar 9th (Monday)
  • DC: Joining Data with dplyr
Mar 11th (Wednesday)
Mar 13th (Friday)
  • DC: Introduction to Importing Data in R
7 Mar 16th (Monday)
Mar 18th (Wednesday)
Mar 20th (Friday)
8 Mar 23rd (Monday) SPRING HOLIDAY - NO CLASS
Mar 25th (Wednesday) SPRING HOLIDAY - NO CLASS
Mar 27th (Friday) SPRING HOLIDAY - NO CLASS
9 Mar 30th (Monday)
Apr 1st (Wednesday)
Apr 3rd (Friday)
10 Apr 6th (Monday)
Apr 8th (Wednesday)
Apr 10th (Friday)
11 Apr 13th (Monday)
Apr 15th (Wednesday)
Apr 17th (Friday)
12 Apr 20th (Monday)
Apr 22nd (Wednesday)
Apr 24th (Friday)
13 Apr 27th (Monday)
Apr 29th (Wednesday)
May 1st (Friday)
14 May 4th (Monday)
May 6th (Wednesday)
May 8th (Friday)
15 May 13th (Wednesday) Final Presentation (11:30PM - 2:00PM)