Apologies, missed this response. Do you have an email address I can reach you at? It depends somewhat if you’re really interested in the “human” or “social” sciences, but I really do recommend that Eco How to Write a Thesis book regardless. It conveys the old secrets of how to enter humanistic scholarship — and was originally written to allow even working class Italians who might only have access to a library for an hour a week to do so.