As a first-generation to college student, there is a lot I have had to learn during my academic journey. I often didn’t know what questions to ask or even that there were questions I could ask. I experienced this challenge both terms of learning the norms and culture of academic life, but also in the substantive aspects of my education. In particular, the technical jargon typically used in computational work often made these approaches seem mysterious, magical, and unobtainable. For too long, I believed I “wasn’t the type of person” who could do computational work. As it turns out, I am. And you are too.
I am deeply dedicated to passing on my knowledge — through workshops, trainings, and articles — and to working to build a more inclusive and supportive academic culture. If you too are trying to navigate academia or life as a computational social scientist, I’d encourage you to take a look through the resources below. Use what is helpful and ignore what is not.
I’ve separated these resources into three sections: Data Science & Computation includes workshops and articles aimed at teaching specific aspects of computational social science. Academic Life Advice includes articles on how to survive and thrive in academia, and finally, Worksheets and Templates includes resources for planning and preparation.
Workshop Code Repositories
Methods at the Intersection of Network and Text Analysis
Slides and Python code available.
Sarah Shugars. Political Networks (PolNet) Conference. 2022.
Programming with Data: Python fundamentals
Python exercises available.
Sarah Shugars. Northeastern University. Spring 2019
Videos
Starting with computational social science
Sarah Shugars. SAGE Research Methods. 2022.
Getting Started with Computational Social Science
Sarah Shugars. Spark Talks. McMaster University. November 2021.
Assessing Modeling Choices for Political Conversation
Sarah Shugars. Social Science Data Lab Seminar Series. University of Mannheim. September 2021.
Articles
One outstanding path from A to B
Sarah Shugars and Sam V. Scarpino. Nature Physics 17 (4), 540-540. 2021.
Core Skills of Computational Social Science: Data Justice, Intellectual Humility, and Algorithmic Thinking
Sarah Shugars. SAGE Research Methods: Doing Research Online. 2022.
PDF available upon request.
Note: Authors for these papers are listed in alphabetical order.
Building a Bigger Table: Networking 101 for Graduate Students
Seo-Young Silvia Kim, Hannah Lebovits and Sarah Shugars.
PS: Political Science & Politics. 2021.
Feeling Like a Fraud: Imposter Syndrome in Political Science
Thomas Benson, Bobbi Gentry, and Sarah Shugars.
Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond.
Edited by: Kevin G. Lorentz II, Daniel J. Mallinson, Julia Marin Hellwege, Davin Phoenix, J. Cherie Strachan. 2022.
Why You’re Doing This: Sustaining Joy and Inspiration in the Scholarly Vocation
Yuna Blajer de la Garza, Patrick Egan, and Sarah Shugars.
Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond.
Edited by: Kevin G. Lorentz II, Daniel J. Mallinson, Julia Marin Hellwege, Davin Phoenix, J. Cherie Strachan. 2022.
No Rapunzel in This Ivory Tower: Finding Your Collective and Overcoming Academic Isolation in Political Science
Devon Cantwell, Siobhan Kirkland, Hannah Lebovits, Maricruz Osorio, Natalie Rojas, Rosalie Rubio, Sarah Shugars, Rachel Torres, and Rachel Winter.
Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond.
Edited by: Kevin G. Lorentz II, Daniel J. Mallinson, Julia Marin Hellwege, Davin Phoenix, J. Cherie Strachan. 2022.
All chapters from Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond are available free online here: https://apsanet.org/gradschool.
This worksheet includes a list of questions you should be prepared to answer during first round interviews. Write a few bullet point responses to each of these questions in advance of a first round interview to help prepare. Opens as a read-only Google doc.