Course Syllabus

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MATH 7.04 WINTER 2026
First-Year Seminar: Analyzing Network Data

Instructor:  Peter J. Mucha, Kemeny 240,
peter.j.mucha@dartmouth.edu, https://mucha.host.dartmouth.edu. 

Lecture Information:  9L (MWF 8:50–9:55), Kemeny 105.

Please hold the 9LX hour (officially Thursdays 9:05–9:55, but we will start at 8:50) open for possible use. Full class meetings at the 9LX time, with attendance expected, will include February 26 and March 5. Additional 9LX meetings might be held on other dates TBD.

Office Hours: Thursdays 9:35–10:30 and Thursdays 1:05–1:55 (unless indicated otherwise in the schedule below) in Kemeny 240, and by appointment (a DM on the Dartmouth Slack will almost always get a faster response from me than email).

Required Readings: (see Library Reserves)

  • Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, 2009.
  • Statistical Analysis of Network Data with R by Eric Kolaczyk and Gabor Csárdi, 2nd ed., 2020.
  • Making, Keeping, and Losing Friends : How Campuses Shape College Students’ Networks by Janice McCabe, 2025.

Full Syllabus: syllabus.pdf

Course Schedule: Note future topics listed here are tentative and will likely move around as time permits. An "R" in the schedule means we will have class in the Thursday X-hour. Materials referenced include the texts by Christakis & Fowler ("CF"), Kolaczyk & Csardi ("KC"), and McCabe.
Week Topics

1

MWF

Introduction to and Properties of Network Data

  • Monday 1/5: Course organization, installing R and packages.
  • Wednesday 1/7: KC chapter 2. 
  • Friday 1/9: KC section 2.4 and chapter 3 (especially 3.5).

2

MWF

Network Influence, Critically Evaluating a Journal Article

  • Monday 1/12: Class discussion about CF chapters 1 and 2.
  • Wednesday 1/14: Peer feedback about journal article takeaways.
  • Friday 1/16: Class discussion about CF chapters 3 and 4.

Office hours on Thursday 9:35–10:30 and 2:30–3:10.

3

WF

Constructive Feedback, Political Networks 

  • Monday 1/19: No meeting (MLK Day).
  • Wednesday 1/21: Class discussion about CF chapters 5 and 6.
  • Friday 1/23: Peer feedback about journal article summaries.

4

MWF

Measures and Models of Networks

  • Monday 1/26: Quarto documents in R and start KC chapter 4.
  • Wednesday 1/28: Eigenvector centralities (supplementing KC chapter 4).
  • Friday 1/30: Models of networks (supplementing KC chapter 5).

5

MWF

Your Ego Network

  • Monday 2/2: Class discussion about McCabe Introduction. Ego networks.
  • Wednesday 2/4: In-class computational troubleshooting ego network data.
  • Friday 2/6: Class discussion about McCabe chapter 1.

6

MWF

Writing as Thinking in a Computational Notebook, Constructive Feedback

  • Monday 2/9: Community detection (including tools in ideanet).
  • Wednesday 2/11: Class discussion about McCabe chapter 2.
  • Friday 2/13: Peer feedback about computational notebooks.

7

MWF

Writing Like a Mathematical Scientist

  • Monday 2/16: Class discussion about McCabe chapter 3.
  • Wednesday 2/18: Introduction to LaTeX, Overleaf, and Zotero.
  • Friday 2/20: Highlights of KC Chapter 6.

8

WR

More Applications of Networks, Constructive Feedback

  • Monday 2/23: No meeting.
  • Wednesday 2/25: Class discussion about McCabe chapter 4.
  • Thursday 2/26: Peer feedback about project report outlines. (Start at 8:50.)
  • Friday 2/27: No meeting.

Office hours on Thursday 10–11 and 1–2.

9

MRF

Takeaways About Friendship Networks

  • Monday 3/2: Class discussion about McCabe chapter 5.
  • Wednesday 3/4: No meeting.
  • Thursday 3/5: Peer feedback about project report progress. (Start at 8:50.)
  • Friday 3/6: Class discussion with Prof. Janice McCabe, Dept. of Sociology.

Office hours on Thursday 10–11 and 1–2.

10

M

Final Project Reports, Constructive Feedback

  • Monday 3/9: Peer feedback about project reports.

No office hours.

Course Summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due