Course Readings
Readings in this course come from a wide range of topics—academic papers, articles, and essays—to reflect the breadth and diversity of data science. For each reading, I’ll include brief context on why it was chosen and what key ideas to focus on.
Students often ask why there are so many readings in a science- or engineering-oriented course. The answer is straightforward: doing scientific and technical work requires a lot of reading! In day-to-day practice, scientists and engineers regularly read research papers, meeting notes, emails, memos, project documentation, code comments, and technical specifications.
Strong reading and writing skills make it easier to extract important information, communicate clearly, and share knowledge with others—core parts of effective data science work. Please take the readings seriously. Think of them as both a way to learn about the field and a chance to practice skills you’ll rely on throughout your career.