The scholarship (articles, books, etc.) in a discipline can be thought of as an ongoing conversation among scholars about an academic subject. In a publication a scholar must take into account what has already been said about it. For example, many of those contributing to the enormous body of scholarship on Shakespeare's Hamlet have grappled with the question of Hamlet's delay in exacting vengeance on his uncle. In considering the question, Muir weighs the beliefs of one group of scholars who find the answer in Hamlet's psychological makeup against those who locate the causes of Hamlet's procrastination in the fact that the play reflects Shakespeare's source material.

Muir, Kenneth. "Hamlet." Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Ed. Robert B.
	Heilman. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1984. 64-83.

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