Web scraping many pages (and coding with AI!)

Lecture 13

Author

Affiliation

Prof. Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel

Duke University
STA 199 - Fall 2026

Published

October 14, 2026

Warm-up

While you wait: Participate 📱💻

The following code in chronicle-scrape.R extracts titles of an opinion article from The Chronicle website:

page <- read_html(
  "https://www2.stat.duke.edu/~cr173/data/dukechronicle-opinion/www.dukechronicle.com/section/opinionabc4.html"
)

titles <- page |>
  html_elements("#__snw-main-content .text-xl") |>
  html_text()

Which of the following needs to change to extract column titles instead?

Change the URL in read_html()
Change the function html_elements() to html_element()
Change the CSS selector #__snw-main-content .text-xl to .space-y-4 .text-brand
Change the function html_text() to html_attr()

Go to wooclap.com and use the code OKZKXCY.

Announcements

(Optional) Midsemester course feedback form due tomorrow at 11:59pm
Read Project milestone 3 instructions before lab tomorrow
Peer eval 2 will be open tomorrow, due Monday
Exam 1 grades are posted on Gradescope (with feedback) and on Canvas
- See Gradescope for feedback on your exam
- Exam questions posted on Canvas for review
- If you want your specific paper (the one you wrote on), I may be able to put it together for you, but everything you need is already posted
- Regrade requests: We will regrade your whole exam, points could go up or down or not change, usual regrade timeline (1 week from release date) applies

Participate 📱💻

Put the following tasks in order to scrape data from a website:

Use the SelectorGadget identify tags for elements you want to grab
Use read_html() to read the page’s source code into R
Use other functions from the rvest package to parse the elements you’re interested in
Put the components together in a data frame (a tibble) and analyze it like you analyze any other data

Go to wooclap.com and use the code OKZKXCY.

A new R workflow

When working in a Quarto document, your analysis is re-run each time you knit
If web scraping in a Quarto document, you’d be re-scraping the data each time you knit, which is undesirable (and not nice)!
An alternative workflow:
- Use an R script to save your code
- Saving interim data scraped using the code in the script as CSV or RDS files
- Use the saved data in your analysis in your Quarto document

Where we left off…

# load packages ----------------------------------------------------------------

library(tidyverse)
library(rvest)
library(polite)

# check that we can scrape data from the chronicle -----------------------------

bow("https://www.dukechronicle.com/section/opinion?page=1&per_page=500")

# read page --------------------------------------------------------------------
# read from local copy of the site

page <- read_html(
  "https://www2.stat.duke.edu/~cr173/data/dukechronicle-opinion/www.dukechronicle.com/section/opinionabc4.html"
)

# parse components -------------------------------------------------------------

titles <- page |>
  html_elements("#__snw-main-content .text-xl") |>
  html_text()

columns <- page |>
  html_elements(".space-y-4 .text-brand") |>
  html_text()

authors_dates_times <- page |>
  html_elements(".space-y-4 .font-semibold") |>
  html_text2() |>
  str_remove("By ")

urls <- page |>
  html_elements("#__snw-main-content .text-xl") |>
  html_attr(name = "href")

# create a data frame ----------------------------------------------------------

chronicle_raw <- tibble(
  # var name  = vector name
  title = titles,
  author_date_time = authors_dates_times,
  column = columns,
  url = urls
)

# clean up data ----------------------------------------------------------------

chronicle <- chronicle_raw |>
  separate_wider_delim(
    author_date_time,
    delim = "\n|\n",
    names = c("author", "date_time"),
  ) |>
  separate_wider_delim(
    column,
    delim = " | ",
    names = c("column_1", "column_2"),
    too_few = "align_start"
  ) |>
  mutate(
    column = if_else(is.na(column_2), column_1, column_2),
    date_time = mdy_hm(date_time),
    month = month(date_time, label = TRUE),
    day = day(date_time),
    year = year(date_time),
    date = make_date(year, month, day),
    url = str_remove(url, ".."),
    url = paste0(
      "https://www2.stat.duke.edu/~cr173/data/dukechronicle-opinion/www.dukechronicle.com",
      url
    )
  ) |>
  select(title, author, date_time, date, month, day, column, url)

# write data -------------------------------------------------------------------

write_csv(chronicle, file = "data/chronicle-2026-09-29.csv")

Data cleaning review

`chronicle_raw`

chronicle_raw

# A tibble: 500 × 4
   title                                           author_date_time column url  
   <chr>                                           <chr>            <chr>  <chr>
 1 Find your tree                                  "Arnav Jain\n|\… Opini… ../a…
 2 ‘I hate Barack Obama’: Mitt Romney encourages … "Monday Monday\… Opini… ../a…
 3 Duke’s Roots of Faith                           "Luke A. Powery… Opini… ../a…
 4 Music’s connection to the self and the past     "Robert Wallace… Opini… ../a…
 5 Response to the DukeEngage Ghana Revelations    "Charles D. Pio… Opini… ../a…
 6 Sacrality of the University                     "Luke A. Powery… Opini… ../a…
 7 The Chronicle’s Board of Directors supports st… "Duke Student P… Opini… ../a…
 8 Do you                                          "Luke A. Powery… Opini… ../a…
 9 Community members share remembrances for Alex … "Remembrances\n… Opini… ../a…
10 The Chronicle is accepting remembrances for Al… "Remembrances\n… Opini… ../a…
# ℹ 490 more rows

`author_date_time`

chronicle_raw |>
  select(author_date_time)

# A tibble: 500 × 1
   author_date_time                                                 
   <chr>                                                            
 1 "Arnav Jain\n|\nSep 29, 2026, 12:00 PM"                          
 2 "Monday Monday\n|\nSep 28, 2026, 9:42 PM"                        
 3 "Luke A. Powery\n|\nSep 28, 2026, 2:36 PM"                       
 4 "Robert Wallace\n|\nSep 24, 2026, 10:00 AM"                      
 5 "Charles D. Piot\n|\nSep 23, 2026, 8:27 PM"                      
 6 "Luke A. Powery\n|\nSep 15, 2026, 2:19 AM"                       
 7 "Duke Student Publishing Company Board\n|\nSep 5, 2026, 12:37 AM"
 8 "Luke A. Powery\n|\nAug 31, 2026, 1:57 PM"                       
 9 "Remembrances\n|\nAug 30, 2026, 4:29 PM"                         
10 "Remembrances\n|\nAug 28, 2026, 12:00 PM"                        
# ℹ 490 more rows

`author` and `date_time`

chronicle_1 <- chronicle_raw |>
  separate_wider_delim(
    author_date_time,
    delim = "\n|\n",
    names = c("author", "date_time"),
  ) |>
  relocate(author, date_time)

chronicle_1

# A tibble: 500 × 5
   author                                date_time            title column url  
   <chr>                                 <chr>                <chr> <chr>  <chr>
 1 Arnav Jain                            Sep 29, 2026, 12:00… Find… Opini… ../a…
 2 Monday Monday                         Sep 28, 2026, 9:42 … ‘I h… Opini… ../a…
 3 Luke A. Powery                        Sep 28, 2026, 2:36 … Duke… Opini… ../a…
 4 Robert Wallace                        Sep 24, 2026, 10:00… Musi… Opini… ../a…
 5 Charles D. Piot                       Sep 23, 2026, 8:27 … Resp… Opini… ../a…
 6 Luke A. Powery                        Sep 15, 2026, 2:19 … Sacr… Opini… ../a…
 7 Duke Student Publishing Company Board Sep 5, 2026, 12:37 … The … Opini… ../a…
 8 Luke A. Powery                        Aug 31, 2026, 1:57 … Do y… Opini… ../a…
 9 Remembrances                          Aug 30, 2026, 4:29 … Comm… Opini… ../a…
10 Remembrances                          Aug 28, 2026, 12:00… The … Opini… ../a…
# ℹ 490 more rows

`date_time`

chronicle_2 <- chronicle_1 |>
  mutate(date_time = mdy_hm(date_time)) |>
  relocate(date_time)

chronicle_2

# A tibble: 500 × 5
   date_time           author                                title  column url  
   <dttm>              <chr>                                 <chr>  <chr>  <chr>
 1 2026-09-29 12:00:00 Arnav Jain                            Find … Opini… ../a…
 2 2026-09-28 21:42:00 Monday Monday                         ‘I ha… Opini… ../a…
 3 2026-09-28 14:36:00 Luke A. Powery                        Duke’… Opini… ../a…
 4 2026-09-24 10:00:00 Robert Wallace                        Music… Opini… ../a…
 5 2026-09-23 20:27:00 Charles D. Piot                       Respo… Opini… ../a…
 6 2026-09-15 02:19:00 Luke A. Powery                        Sacra… Opini… ../a…
 7 2026-09-05 00:37:00 Duke Student Publishing Company Board The C… Opini… ../a…
 8 2026-08-31 13:57:00 Luke A. Powery                        Do you Opini… ../a…
 9 2026-08-30 16:29:00 Remembrances                          Commu… Opini… ../a…
10 2026-08-28 12:00:00 Remembrances                          The C… Opini… ../a…
# ℹ 490 more rows

Date and time columns

chronicle_3 <- chronicle_2 |>
  mutate(
    month = month(date_time, label = TRUE),
    day = day(date_time),
    year = year(date_time),
    date = make_date(year, month, day),
  ) |>
  relocate(month, day, year, date)

chronicle_3

# A tibble: 500 × 9
   month   day  year date       date_time           author    title column url  
   <ord> <int> <dbl> <date>     <dttm>              <chr>     <chr> <chr>  <chr>
 1 Sep      29  2026 2026-09-29 2026-09-29 12:00:00 Arnav Ja… Find… Opini… ../a…
 2 Sep      28  2026 2026-09-28 2026-09-28 21:42:00 Monday M… ‘I h… Opini… ../a…
 3 Sep      28  2026 2026-09-28 2026-09-28 14:36:00 Luke A. … Duke… Opini… ../a…
 4 Sep      24  2026 2026-09-24 2026-09-24 10:00:00 Robert W… Musi… Opini… ../a…
 5 Sep      23  2026 2026-09-23 2026-09-23 20:27:00 Charles … Resp… Opini… ../a…
 6 Sep      15  2026 2026-09-15 2026-09-15 02:19:00 Luke A. … Sacr… Opini… ../a…
 7 Sep       5  2026 2026-09-05 2026-09-05 00:37:00 Duke Stu… The … Opini… ../a…
 8 Aug      31  2026 2026-08-31 2026-08-31 13:57:00 Luke A. … Do y… Opini… ../a…
 9 Aug      30  2026 2026-08-30 2026-08-30 16:29:00 Remembra… Comm… Opini… ../a…
10 Aug      28  2026 2026-08-28 2026-08-28 12:00:00 Remembra… The … Opini… ../a…
# ℹ 490 more rows

`column`

chronicle_3 |>
  select(column)

# A tibble: 500 × 1
   column                 
   <chr>                  
 1 Opinion                
 2 Opinion | Campus Voices
 3 Opinion | Campus Voices
 4 Opinion | Campus Voices
 5 Opinion                
 6 Opinion | Campus Voices
 7 Opinion                
 8 Opinion | Campus Voices
 9 Opinion | Campus Voices
10 Opinion | Campus Voices
# ℹ 490 more rows

`column`

chronicle_4 <- chronicle_3 |>
  separate_wider_delim(
    column,
    delim = " | ",
    names = c("column_1", "column_2"),
    too_few = "align_start"
  ) |>
  relocate(column_1, column_2)

chronicle_4

# A tibble: 500 × 10
   column_1 column_2     month   day  year date       date_time           author
   <chr>    <chr>        <ord> <int> <dbl> <date>     <dttm>              <chr> 
 1 Opinion  <NA>         Sep      29  2026 2026-09-29 2026-09-29 12:00:00 Arnav…
 2 Opinion  Campus Voic… Sep      28  2026 2026-09-28 2026-09-28 21:42:00 Monda…
 3 Opinion  Campus Voic… Sep      28  2026 2026-09-28 2026-09-28 14:36:00 Luke …
 4 Opinion  Campus Voic… Sep      24  2026 2026-09-24 2026-09-24 10:00:00 Rober…
 5 Opinion  <NA>         Sep      23  2026 2026-09-23 2026-09-23 20:27:00 Charl…
 6 Opinion  Campus Voic… Sep      15  2026 2026-09-15 2026-09-15 02:19:00 Luke …
 7 Opinion  <NA>         Sep       5  2026 2026-09-05 2026-09-05 00:37:00 Duke …
 8 Opinion  Campus Voic… Aug      31  2026 2026-08-31 2026-08-31 13:57:00 Luke …
 9 Opinion  Campus Voic… Aug      30  2026 2026-08-30 2026-08-30 16:29:00 Remem…
10 Opinion  Campus Voic… Aug      28  2026 2026-08-28 2026-08-28 12:00:00 Remem…
# ℹ 490 more rows
# ℹ 2 more variables: title <chr>, url <chr>

`column`

chronicle_5 <- chronicle_4 |>
  mutate(column = if_else(is.na(column_2), column_1, column_2)) |>
  relocate(starts_with("column"))

chronicle_5

# A tibble: 500 × 11
   column_1 column_2     column month   day  year date       date_time          
   <chr>    <chr>        <chr>  <ord> <int> <dbl> <date>     <dttm>             
 1 Opinion  <NA>         Opini… Sep      29  2026 2026-09-29 2026-09-29 12:00:00
 2 Opinion  Campus Voic… Campu… Sep      28  2026 2026-09-28 2026-09-28 21:42:00
 3 Opinion  Campus Voic… Campu… Sep      28  2026 2026-09-28 2026-09-28 14:36:00
 4 Opinion  Campus Voic… Campu… Sep      24  2026 2026-09-24 2026-09-24 10:00:00
 5 Opinion  <NA>         Opini… Sep      23  2026 2026-09-23 2026-09-23 20:27:00
 6 Opinion  Campus Voic… Campu… Sep      15  2026 2026-09-15 2026-09-15 02:19:00
 7 Opinion  <NA>         Opini… Sep       5  2026 2026-09-05 2026-09-05 00:37:00
 8 Opinion  Campus Voic… Campu… Aug      31  2026 2026-08-31 2026-08-31 13:57:00
 9 Opinion  Campus Voic… Campu… Aug      30  2026 2026-08-30 2026-08-30 16:29:00
10 Opinion  Campus Voic… Campu… Aug      28  2026 2026-08-28 2026-08-28 12:00:00
# ℹ 490 more rows
# ℹ 3 more variables: author <chr>, title <chr>, url <chr>

`url`

chronicle_5 |>
  select(url)

# A tibble: 500 × 1
   url                                                                
   <chr>                                                              
 1 ../article/find-your-tree-20260929.html                            
 2 ../article/20260928-mondaymonday-20260928.html                     
 3 ../article/20260928-lukepowery-20260928.html                       
 4 ../article/musics-connection-to-the-self-and-the-past-20260924.html
 5 ../article/response-dukeengage-ghana-20260923.html                 
 6 ../article/20260914-lukepowery-20260915.html                       
 7 ../article/20260409-dukestudentboard-20260905.html                 
 8 ../article/lukepowery-doyou-20260831.html                          
 9 ../article/20260830-alexdittarcommunity-20260830.html              
10 ../article/20260827-remembrances-alex-dittmar-20260828.html        
# ℹ 490 more rows

`url`

chronicle_6 <- chronicle_5 |>
  mutate(
    url = str_replace(
      url,
      "..",
      "https://www2.stat.duke.edu/~cr173/data/dukechronicle-opinion/www.dukechronicle.com"
    )
  ) |>
  relocate(url)

chronicle_6

# A tibble: 500 × 11
   url                     column_1 column_2 column month   day  year date      
   <chr>                   <chr>    <chr>    <chr>  <ord> <int> <dbl> <date>    
 1 https://www2.stat.duke… Opinion  <NA>     Opini… Sep      29  2026 2026-09-29
 2 https://www2.stat.duke… Opinion  Campus … Campu… Sep      28  2026 2026-09-28
 3 https://www2.stat.duke… Opinion  Campus … Campu… Sep      28  2026 2026-09-28
 4 https://www2.stat.duke… Opinion  Campus … Campu… Sep      24  2026 2026-09-24
 5 https://www2.stat.duke… Opinion  <NA>     Opini… Sep      23  2026 2026-09-23
 6 https://www2.stat.duke… Opinion  Campus … Campu… Sep      15  2026 2026-09-15
 7 https://www2.stat.duke… Opinion  <NA>     Opini… Sep       5  2026 2026-09-05
 8 https://www2.stat.duke… Opinion  Campus … Campu… Aug      31  2026 2026-08-31
 9 https://www2.stat.duke… Opinion  Campus … Campu… Aug      30  2026 2026-08-30
10 https://www2.stat.duke… Opinion  Campus … Campu… Aug      28  2026 2026-08-28
# ℹ 490 more rows
# ℹ 3 more variables: date_time <dttm>, author <chr>, title <chr>

Select relevant columns

chronicle <- chronicle_6 |>
  select(title, author, date_time, date, month, day, column, url)

chronicle

# A tibble: 500 × 8
   title          author date_time           date       month   day column url  
   <chr>          <chr>  <dttm>              <date>     <ord> <int> <chr>  <chr>
 1 Find your tree Arnav… 2026-09-29 12:00:00 2026-09-29 Sep      29 Opini… http…
 2 ‘I hate Barac… Monda… 2026-09-28 21:42:00 2026-09-28 Sep      28 Campu… http…
 3 Duke’s Roots … Luke … 2026-09-28 14:36:00 2026-09-28 Sep      28 Campu… http…
 4 Music’s conne… Rober… 2026-09-24 10:00:00 2026-09-24 Sep      24 Campu… http…
 5 Response to t… Charl… 2026-09-23 20:27:00 2026-09-23 Sep      23 Opini… http…
 6 Sacrality of … Luke … 2026-09-15 02:19:00 2026-09-15 Sep      15 Campu… http…
 7 The Chronicle… Duke … 2026-09-05 00:37:00 2026-09-05 Sep       5 Opini… http…
 8 Do you         Luke … 2026-08-31 13:57:00 2026-08-31 Aug      31 Campu… http…
 9 Community mem… Remem… 2026-08-30 16:29:00 2026-08-30 Aug      30 Campu… http…
10 The Chronicle… Remem… 2026-08-28 12:00:00 2026-08-28 Aug      28 Campu… http…
# ℹ 490 more rows

Next step:
Article text

Plan

Write a function that takes a URL and returns the article text on that page (then test it on a page)
Run the function on each page in the chronicle data frame (but start by testing it on a few pages)
Save the results in a new column in the chronicle data frame

Demo

Go to your ae project in Positron.
If you haven’t yet done so, make sure all of your changes up to this point are committed and pushed, i.e., there’s nothing left in your source control pane.
Pull to get today’s application exercise file: ae-08-chronicle-scrape-II.R.
Then, close your laptop, and watch me demo the next few step.

The 🐘 in the room

Go for it

ask the question you want to ask!

If AI can do all of this, why do I need to learn how to do it myself?

Another demo

Let’s try something simple…

Create a scatterplot of miles per gallon vs. displacement in mtcars, and overlay the best fit line for predicting mpg from displacement.
Now limit to cars with displacement below 200.

Working with AI

Codex as a coding collaborator

Codex can…

Read the active file and related project files
Use existing functions and coding conventions
Edit files directly
Run code and report results
Revise its work after feedback

Codex can take actions, but you define success and decide what evidence is sufficient.

Give it a concrete task

Use the scrape_article() function in ae-08-chronicle-scrape-II.R and tidyverse to add a column to the chronicle data frame called article content with the content of the articles from each page.

. . .

Why is this a useful prompt?

Names the file and existing function
Names the preferred syntax
Names the data frame
Describes the desired output
Provides enough context to inspect the project

Inspect the generated code

chronicle <- chronicle |>
  mutate(article_content = map_chr(url, scrape_article))

. . .

map_chr() applies scrape_article() to every URL and requires the function to return one character value per row.

Is generating syntactically valid code enough?

Writing code \(\neq\) verifying code

Human: Did you run this code to confirm it works?

Codex: No. I only confirmed that the script parses without syntax errors.

. . .

Parsing

Is the syntax valid?

Execution

Does the code run?

Validation

Is the output correct?

Test small before scaling up

Try it with the first three rows of the data frame to test if it works.

chronicle_test <- chronicle |>
  slice_head(n = 3) |>
  mutate(
    article_content = map_chr(url, scrape_article)
  )

Ask for evidence in the prompt

Basic:

Add the article content column.

. . .

Better:

Use scrape_article() and tidyverse to add an article_content column to chronicle. Test it on the first three rows before running it on the complete data. Confirm that the results are non-missing and non-empty. Do not overwrite the input data frame or the CSV during the test.

. . .

Context + task + constraints + verification + reporting

The human remains responsible

You need enough knowledge to…

Describe the intended computation
Understand and inspect the generated code
Design a meaningful test
Recognize implausible output
Diagnose failures
Consider responsible scraping practices
Decide when the evidence is strong enough to proceed

AI can produce code quickly. Statistical and computational knowledge lets you decide whether that code answers the right question – and whether it actually works.

How does Codex know how to work?

`AGENTS.md`

Persistent instructions for a repository
Describes project conventions, expectations, and checks
Read by Codex before it begins working

How to work in this project

Skills

Reusable instructions for a particular kind of task
Loaded when requested or when the task matches
Can include scripts, references, and assets

How to do this kind of task

Important

Homework and lab repositories in this class, as well as the course project, use AGENTS.md files. Codex reads them – and you should too!

AGENTS.md documentation · Skills documentation

Warm-up

While you wait: Participate 📱💻

Announcements

Participate 📱💻

A new R workflow

Where we left off…

Data cleaning review

chronicle_raw

author_date_time

author and date_time

date_time

Date and time columns

column

column

column

url

url

Select relevant columns

Next step:Article text

Plan

Demo

The 🐘 in the room

Go for it

Another demo

Working with AI

Codex as a coding collaborator

Give it a concrete task

Inspect the generated code

Writing code \(\neq\) verifying code

Test small before scaling up

Ask for evidence in the prompt

The human remains responsible

How does Codex know how to work?

AGENTS.md

Skills

`chronicle_raw`

`author_date_time`

`author` and `date_time`

`date_time`

`column`

`column`

`column`

`url`

`url`

Next step:
Article text

`AGENTS.md`