Preparing and Submitting Your Assignment — Cheatsheet

This is a one-page quick reference for preparing and submitting a BIOL 202 assignment. For full explanations, see Tutorial 3, Preparing and formatting assignments.

1. Before you open the assignment file

Open your BIOL202_assignments RStudio project (double-click the .Rproj file) — don’t just open the .Rmd on its own. (Tutorial 3, §3.1.1; Tutorial 2, §2.4.1)
Confirm you’re in the right project: bottom-right Files pane should show your assignment files, top-right corner of RStudio should name the project.
Download the assignment .Rmd from Canvas → Assignments (or the Lab_materials module for the practice assignment) and save it into your BIOL202_assignments root or the assignment’s subfolder. (Tutorial 3, §3.1.2)

Open the .Rmd. In the header block only, replace: assignment title, Firstname Lastname, Section YY, and due date — keep the quotation marks. (Tutorial 3, §3.1.3)
Do not touch anything else in the header or the R chunk immediately below it.
Immediately Save As with your proper file name, e.g. Pither_BIOL202_lab-assignment-01.Rmd (no version number needed if the file lives in OneDrive — OneDrive keeps old versions for you). (Tutorial 3, §3.1.3; Tutorial 2, §2.2.1)

One chunk near the top loads what you’ll need — one library() line per package (never library(tidyverse)): library(dplyr), library(ggplot2), library(readr), library(biol202) — add others only if a question needs them. (Tutorial 3, §3.2; Tutorial 1, §1.3.5)
Never put install.packages() inside the .Rmd — install in the Console only. (Tutorial 1, §1.3.4)

Load each dataset with library(biol202); data(name), or read_csv() if the question says to import a CSV. (Tutorial 3, §3.2.2; Tutorial 4, §4.4)
Answer in full sentences, addressing exactly what’s asked.
Every answer’s code sits in its own R chunk, with a unique chunk name. (Tutorial 3, §3.2.1)
Press the green ▶ to run each chunk as you go — don’t wait until the end. (Tutorial 3, §3.2)
If a chunk produces a lot of clutter (e.g. package-loading messages), add message = FALSE to that chunk’s header only — not by default. (Tutorial 3, §3.2.1)
Save and knit often — don’t wait until you’re finished to knit for the first time. (Tutorial 3, §3.2)

Every chunk that makes a plot needs fig.cap = "...", fig.width =, fig.height = in its header, with a blank line before the plotting code starts. (Tutorial 3, §3.3)
Leave a blank line between the end of a figure chunk and the text below it, or the caption won’t appear. (Common Issues)
If you use a graph to answer a question, refer to it by name/number in your written answer. (Tutorial 3, §3.2)
Figure numbers (“Figure 1:”, “Figure 2:”…) are automatic — don’t type them yourself.

Click the Knit dropdown → Knit to PDF (don’t just click “Knit” without checking it says PDF). (Tutorial 3, §3.5; Tutorial 1, §1.5.2)
The PDF takes the same name as your .Rmd, just with a .pdf extension.

Error says…	Likely fix
`could not find function`	You used a package function before `library()` loaded it — load it in a chunk near the top. Details
`there is no package called...`	Package isn’t installed — run `install.packages()` in the Console, not the `.Rmd`. Details
`trying to use CRAN without setting a mirror`	You have `install.packages()` inside the `.Rmd` — remove it, install in Console instead. Details
`LaTeX failed` / `pdflatex not found`	Run in Console: `install.packages("tinytex")` then `tinytex::install_tinytex()`. Details
Mentions a Unicode character	You likely pasted text from the web (curly quotes, special symbols). Retype the offending text. Details
`unused argument`	A `library()` call is below the chunk that uses it — move `library()` above. Details
`object not found`	You’re using an object before creating it — create it in an earlier chunk. Details
Parse/syntax error, points to a line	Look for a stray symbol (comma, bracket, `>`) on that line. Details
Still stuck	Google the exact error text + “R”; read which line R points to first. Details

Open the knitted PDF and read it start to finish.
Every question has code, output, and a written answer — nothing missing or cut off.
Figures render properly and each has a caption starting “Figure X:”.
Spelling and grammar check.
If anything’s wrong: close the PDF, fix the .Rmd, save, then re-knit — never hand-edit the PDF. (Tutorial 3, §3.5)

Confirm both files share the same base name, e.g. Pither_BIOL202_lab-assignment-01.Rmd and .pdf — follow the naming convention given with the specific assignment.
Upload both the .Rmd and the .pdf to the assignment’s Canvas submission page. (Tutorial 3, §3.6)
After uploading, re-open the submission on Canvas and confirm the PDF opens correctly and is the right version.