8.1 Google

• If you get an R error message and you have no idea what it means, chances are that someone else has been confused by it in the past, and there will be help somewhere on the web.

• Typically adding “R” to a Google query is enough to restrict it to relevant results, but if the search isn’t useful, try adding package names like “tidyverse” or “ggplot2” to narrow down the results

  • e.g., “how to make a boxplot in R” vs. “how to make a boxplot in R with ggplot2”.

  • If the error message isn’t in English, run Sys.setenv(LANGUAGE = "en") and re-run the code as you’re more likely to find help for English error messages.

• If Google doesn’t help, try spending a little time searching Stack Overflow for an existing answer, including [R], to restrict your search to questions and answers that use R.