Guides: Statistical Software: R

Workshops at Penn Libraries

Interested in learning more about a particular software or tool? Check out our upcoming workshops

Accessing R and RStudio

Several options are available for software access:

R is available for free download from the R Project. R Studio provides a user-friendly interface for R. To run RStudio, R needs to be downloaded first.
RCloud is an environment for collaboratively creating and sharing data analysis scripts. If you are unable to download R for any reason, this might be a good option.
Anaconda is a distribution of the R programming language for scientific computing. R can be installed through the Anaconda computing environment.
If you are on campus, lab computers with R are available at Van Pelt and other libraries, as well as the Undergraduate and Graduate Data Analysis Labs in McNeil Building.

Penn Libraries x Dataquest

Penn Libraries has negotiated a campus-wide premium license for Dataquest, the scaffolded online learning platform with a full catalog of interactive courses; skill paths such as data visualization, machine learning, and data scraping and career paths using Python, R, PowerBI, and Tableau. You learn by doing, completing exercises and getting immediate feedback directly in the browser. To activate your premium account, please complete the form below.

Getting Started with R

R is a popular open-source language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. These are some resources to help you get started learning R.

RStudio for the Total Beginner
Basic video provides a good orientation to the R interface.
Good Practices for Managing Projects in RStudio
Carpentries Incubator Tutorial on Reproducible Publications with RStudio
swirl
Interactive package for R. Provides basic introduction to the essentials for working with the language.
R Software for Business Guide
Provides quick start guides for using R and several workshop recordings including a basic introduction.

Workshop Recordings

Network Visualization with R
Create network visualizations using R. (RDDS Workshop).

What’s Going On in this Graph? Environmental Data Visualization Literacy Workshop With R
Learn techniques for creating compelling graphs and telling better stories. (RDDS Workshop)
Interactive Web Visualization with RShiny
Interested in building an interactive dashboard? R Shiny lets you present your visualizations to an audience to interact with. (RDDS Workshop)
Reading ICPSR Data into R
Instructions for importing data from other statistical software packages into R.

Resources for Learning R

UCLA's Advanced Research Computing R Guide
Includes various learning modules and data analysis examples. Includes "Introduction to R Seminar".
R for Data Science
Online R markdown textbook co-authored by leading Tidyverse developer Hadley Wickham

LinkedIn Learning
Learning platform provides 18 training courses for learning R.

GeeksforGeeks
A manual for R Programming, provides detailed instructions on Input/Output, Control Flow, Data Structures, Error Handling, Data Visualization, Statistics and more.
W3 Schools: R Tutorial
A detailed R manual, includes basic R tutorial, Data Structures, Statistics, Graphics and some examples.
Analytics Using R
Textbook by Margie Rosenberg from the Wisconsin School of Business that covers the major features of R.
R Tips: 16 How To's
A book down manual that includes 16 R tips, such as “how to explore a ‘new’ data set”, “How to create contingency tables”, “how to tally”, “how to join two data tables”, “how to plot data”, “how to create a dynamic report”, “how to learn Shiny”, and “how to check code efficiency”.
The R Journal
Open access, refereed journal of the R project for statistical computing. It features articles covering topics that might be of interest to users or developers of R.
The R Manuals
Online manuals from the R Project.
R Resources in Penn Libraries Catalog
Penn Libraries has many books and ebooks that will help you master R.

Statistical Software Assistance at the Library

Appointments are available with our statistics software consultant for R, Stata, SPSS, and Python. Make an appointment via the Penn Libraries Technology Consultation Appointment page : select "Stata, R and Other Statistical Software" for available appointments.

Data Packages

The R community has developed numerous programs that add functionality to R. Below are a few popular and useful packages.

Tidyverse
Collection of R packages including ggplot2 for graphics, dplyr for data manipulation, and many more.
Quandl
Time-series datasets from over 400 sources.
rOpenSci Packages
R wrappers for data APIs.
WDI Package
Access the World Bank's World Development Indicators.

Statistical Software: R