This workshop will equip students with a general understanding of topic modeling techniques for research. Topic modeling refers to a number of statistical techniques, but all of them are ways of discovering commonalities among documents based on patterns or groups of words that tend to occur together. 

To facilitate a hands-on approach with a focus on process, we'll use existing sample corpora and open-source tools. The class won't require programming or command-line use. Participants will learn what topic modeling can (and can't) reveal about a body of texts, best ethical practices for discussing the results of topic modeling, and ways to apply such techniques to their own research. No previous experience with text analysis or statistics is required.