This course helps you develop the ability to think critically about numbers, graphs, and visualizations that you encounter in news media. Data are inescapable and all kinds of folks use numbers to convince you of their ideas, but when are their arguments based on evidence and when should you doubt their claims? Through this course, you will practice unpacking numerical arguments and make your own decision about whether they are convincing and trustworthy. We’ll go through different examples and apply principles of good visualizations to assess how data are presented. This course is open to any student regardless of interest or experience, and it may even inspire you to study advanced courses about data visualization. General education credits: RSN