This workshop provides an introduction to the R graphics package ggplot2. Time is spent describing the main concepts of the grammar that defines the graphical building blocks, and exploring many examples that show how to use ggplot2 to create basic and more complex graphs.

Workshop format: Lecture, demonstration, and hands-on.

Target audience: This workshop is ideal for R users looking to learn the ggplot2 plotting package and improve their general knowledge of how to make effective visualizations in R.

Knowledge prerequisites: This is an introductory ggplot2 workshop and is intended for those with little or no experience using ggplot2. It is helpful for attendees to have previously used R and feel comfortable working with R data frames, but those with no prior experience using R are welcome to attend.

Hardware/software prerequisites: It is recommended that attendees bring a laptop with R and the R package ggplot2 already installed. Having RStudio installed is also highly recommended. (installation instructions can be found in this guide).

Learning objectives: Attendees will come away with the ability to use the R package ggplot2, along with an iterative, layering approach, to construct polished visualizations of data that is stored in rectangular form.