Writing a discussion for a final project in the humanities means much more than simply presenting your own ideas, however relevant, interesting and original these may be. In fact, in all academic ambits, the discussion requires writers to frame their own ideas in relation to those of their colleagues so that the ideas expressed can be understood in a general context of academic debate and make an informed contribution to that debate. The key here is informed contribution, which means supporting your ideas by relating them to others. This means referring both to the work of other specialists (secondary sources) and to artistic works (primary sources), from which – especially but not exclusively in literary studies – you will sometimes want to quote.

(For a discussion of supporting literature in referencing and bibliography, see Referencing styles.)