Data preparation, presentation and analysis are key skills for all those working with marine mammals, and of the available software packages for doing these, R has rapidly become the most widely used. This means that a knowledge of how to prepare, analyse and visualise data in R is now an essential skill for marine mammalogists. To help marine mammalogists (and other biologists) develop their skills in this area, we will be running an instructor-led online course at the end of March 2024 based around our book, An Introduction to Making Graphs and Maps for Biologists using R. It will be held on the Zoom video-conferencing platform and will provide all the practical knowledge and experience you need to make a wide range of high quality and informative data visualisations from biological data in R using packages such as GGPlot. While it may be useful, no previous experience with R is required to do this course. The course will run from the 25th to the 28th March 2024. It will consist of four three-hour sessions, and one session will need to be completed each day. However, you will have a choice of completing it between 10:00 and 13:00 UK Time (primarily for those living in Europe, Asia and Africa) or 19:00 to 22:00 UK Time (primarily for those living in North and South America). This choice of time slots for each session allows participants from as wide a range of time zones to participate in the course. Attendance will be limited to a maximum of 24 people per session. The fees for this course are GBP 295 per person (with a discounted rate of GBP 245 for students, the unwaged and those working for registered charities). To book a place, or for more information, you can either email us at info@GISinEcology.com or click on the link below. http://gisinecology.com/live-online-course-an-introduction-to-making-graphs-... About the Course: This is a practical course and it is aimed at anyone who wishes to learn how to make high quality and informative graphs and maps based on biological data using R. The topics covered on this course will include an introduction to making graphs using the GGPlot package, making bar graphs of count data, making graphs of summary statistics (such as mean values) with error bars, making point graphs of summary statistics for two variables with vertical and horizontal error bars, making box plots, making X-Y scatter plots of individual data points, making line graphs of time series data, making pair-plot matrices of environmental variables, making pie charts, making bubble graphs, making mixed type graphs, making simple X-Y plots of tracking data and making maps from biological data in R. In addition, you will learn how to use a variety of different R packages and how to create workflows for making any type of graph, map or data visualisation in R. Each session will consist of a series of background talk covering specific topics (more details are provided below), followed by related practical exercises based on instructions from An Introduction to Making Graphs and Maps for Biologists using R. While you are encouraged to remain online during the practical sessions, you can choose to go off-line as you work though the exercises (or if you need to take a break). However, if you have any questions, the course instructor will be available throughout the course for you to ask any questions you wish at any point. This course will be hosted by Dr Colin D MacLeod, one of the authors of An Introduction to Making Graphs and Maps for Biologists using R. At the end of the course, all attendees will receive a certificate of attendance and completion. Each certificate is embossed with the GIS In Ecology official stamp to prevent its fraudulent reproduction. In addition, each certificate has its own unique identification number that we will record, along with your name, meaning that we can verify the authenticity of the certificates we issue (and the course you have completed) on request. Specific Topics This Course Will Cover: * An introduction to R and RStudio (and, if required, this will include help with installing these software packages). * What you need to know to get started with using R. * How to create your first graphs in R using GGPlot. * How to create graphs displaying groups of data with GGPlot. * How to create graphs displaying individual data points with GGPlot * How to create other types of graphs, including pie charts, bubble graphs, mixed type graphs and X-Y plots of tracking data. * How to create simple maps from biological data using R. * How to work out how to do things in R. * How to create an annotated R code archive so you have a record of what you have done.