Into to Text Analysis in Python

This introductory course will explore a variety of approaches to studying text-as-data, collected from newspapers, social media, websites, and any other kind of text data source using th programming language Python. Designed for beginners with no prior coding experience, students will leave this course with beginner-to-intermediate Python programming abilities and the tools to continue building their skills beyond the classroom. Students will learn the fundamentals of the data process in addition to gaining hands-on experience with methods for data collection (e.g., web scraping and working with APIs) and text analysis (e.g., sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and more). Practical in nature, the course will culminate in a final project that will ask students to explore a research question of their choice using the various methods for data collection and analysis learned across the semester, which students can then share as public scholarship and/or with prospective employers. The course content is geared towards students interested in pursuing careers in journalism, marketing, social media strategy, policy analysis, financial analysis, and tech.