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Grad School Essentials: A Crash Course in Scholarly Skills
Bridging the gap between undergrad and grad school, this short and humorous guide gives you the tools to navigate and excel in your graduate studies.
What’s the hardest part of grad school? It’s not simply that the workload is heavy and the demands are high. It’s that too many students lack efficient methods to let them do their best. Professor Zachary Shore aims to change this. With humorous, lively prose, Professor Shore teaches you to master the five most crucial skills you need to how to read, write, speak, act, and research at a higher level. Each chapter in this no-nonsense guide outlines a unique approach to acquiring a skill and then demonstrates how to enhance it. Through these concrete, practical methods, Grad School Essentials will save you time, elevate the quality of your work, and help you to earn the degree you seek.
What’s the hardest part of grad school? It’s not simply that the workload is heavy and the demands are high. It’s that too many students lack efficient methods to let them do their best. Professor Zachary Shore aims to change this. With humorous, lively prose, Professor Shore teaches you to master the five most crucial skills you need to how to read, write, speak, act, and research at a higher level. Each chapter in this no-nonsense guide outlines a unique approach to acquiring a skill and then demonstrates how to enhance it. Through these concrete, practical methods, Grad School Essentials will save you time, elevate the quality of your work, and help you to earn the degree you seek.
157 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2016
About the author
Zachary Shore
9 books18 followersZachary Shore is Associate Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley. He previously served on the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State through an International Affairs Fellowship from the Council on Foreign Relations. He has also worked as a National Security Fellow at Harvard’s Olin Institute for Strategic Studies and at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies in Washington, DC.
Shore earned his doctorate in modern European history from St. Antony's College, Oxford, and has lived for more than six years in Europe, traveling for extended periods across the continent, including Germany, Russia, and the Balkans. His academic honors include winning Harvard's Derek Bok Teaching Award, Oxford's St. Antony's Book Prize, a Dupont Fellowship, an Idea Prize from Germany's Kõrber Foundation, and research grants from the Fulbright Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Earhart Foundation, Daimler-Chrysler Foundation, Robert Bosch Foundation, and the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain. He has appeared on National Public Radio, Dialogue, and other media outlets.
Shore’s articles and editorials on foreign policy have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, Newsday, Haaretz, The National Interest, Orbis, The Journal of Contemporary History, and Intelligence and National Security. His books have been reviewed and profiled in Foreign Affairs, The Financial Times, Washington Monthly, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The New Republic On-line.
Shore earned his doctorate in modern European history from St. Antony's College, Oxford, and has lived for more than six years in Europe, traveling for extended periods across the continent, including Germany, Russia, and the Balkans. His academic honors include winning Harvard's Derek Bok Teaching Award, Oxford's St. Antony's Book Prize, a Dupont Fellowship, an Idea Prize from Germany's Kõrber Foundation, and research grants from the Fulbright Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Earhart Foundation, Daimler-Chrysler Foundation, Robert Bosch Foundation, and the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain. He has appeared on National Public Radio, Dialogue, and other media outlets.
Shore’s articles and editorials on foreign policy have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, Newsday, Haaretz, The National Interest, Orbis, The Journal of Contemporary History, and Intelligence and National Security. His books have been reviewed and profiled in Foreign Affairs, The Financial Times, Washington Monthly, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The New Republic On-line.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
August 21, 2021
One of the better books I've read so far about the research process and graduate school. I think Shore put it perfectly in his own words:
Unlike the other books on grad school that I've read that are either overly jaded or commonsensical, this one actually gives you tips on reading and writing that you can apply to your work and life, even if you're not a graduate student.
3 things I learned:
1. Restate in your own words
2. Conclude with a twist
3. Compress your question in 8 words or less
Favourite quote: "Working smart." It's not just a smart way of working; it's also a way of working that helps make you smarter.
Although many types of people can profit from these skills, I wrote this book with a particular kind of person in mind: someone who loves to learn. Some guidebooks about higher education take a cynical view. They portray your time in school as a game in which you mainly need to manipulate the people around you in order to get ahead. This book does not share that view. Instead, I wrote this for people who care about ideas and take knowledge seriously. If you believe that our lives grow genuinely richer the more we understand the world around us, then this book is especially for you. And if you long to make your own intellectual breakthroughs, the tips you will learn here can help bring you closer to that goal.
Unlike the other books on grad school that I've read that are either overly jaded or commonsensical, this one actually gives you tips on reading and writing that you can apply to your work and life, even if you're not a graduate student.
3 things I learned:
1. Restate in your own words
2. Conclude with a twist
3. Compress your question in 8 words or less
Favourite quote: "Working smart." It's not just a smart way of working; it's also a way of working that helps make you smarter.
June 18, 2018
This is a great little book. Just to provide a little background... I have two master’s degrees and am working on a PhD, but for most of my life I was a terrible student. Despite maintaining a high GPA throughout my graduate studies, I’ve dealt with frequent bouts of anxiety about whether I’m really even getting the basics right (exacerbating the impostor syndrome that so many grad students deal with). It turns out there’s a bunch of stuff I’m doing right, a few things I’m doing wrong, and a whole lot I can do better/more efficiently.
The book is filled with great tips and insights. I wish I had read it earlier. The advice and processes the author offers are all pretty basic, so it will in no way replace even introductory readings on methodology and research design. But it does provide useful tips for students entering a history or polisci grad program, and even those of us pretty far along in one but still have questions about how to manage the workload more effectively. Not all the advice will be equally useful to everyone, but it certainly helped me. And I’m guessing it could for others as well.
The book is filled with great tips and insights. I wish I had read it earlier. The advice and processes the author offers are all pretty basic, so it will in no way replace even introductory readings on methodology and research design. But it does provide useful tips for students entering a history or polisci grad program, and even those of us pretty far along in one but still have questions about how to manage the workload more effectively. Not all the advice will be equally useful to everyone, but it certainly helped me. And I’m guessing it could for others as well.
October 29, 2024
chapters on reading, writing, and researching (2/3 of the book) are excellent for anyone. the chapters on speaking and acting are more situational and biased, and probably not that helpful.
December 30, 2025
How could a 150-page book have anything to teach you about the fundamental topics in its chapters: “1. How to Read, 2. How to Write, 3. How to Research,” etc.?
More specifically, what could it possibly teach you if you are among its target audience of ambitious undergraduate, serious Masters level, or accomplished doctor-level students? I asked myself the same thing when my current Master’s program at the California Institute of Integral Studies recommended it as pre-reading for our program. My son, who is headed off to the Ivy League college, Brown University, this Fall as an undergraduate (yes, I’m a proud papa), scoffed when I told him he should read it: “I already know how to read and write, Dad - I just got into Brown!” (Okay, we’ll work on the humility before he leaves). Conceded that both the title (what if you’re an undergraduate?) and the chapters may be off-putting (sorry, Professor Shore).
Yet, I can’t recommend enough the focused, clear guidance in this concise, well-organized treasure of a book.
Are its claims of teaching you something important about reading, writing, speaking, acting, and researching in Grad. School lofty? Yes. Yes, they are. Does he pull it off? Yes. Yes, he does. In fact, he’s following his own advice: “Answer a Meaningful Question (Shore, Z., 2016, p.123). What if this short, well-organized book really could transform the way you read, write, speak, and research? Well, now that would be something. And it is.
If I had read this book before heading off to get my undergraduate degree in German literature and language at Dartmouth College (another one of those ivies) thirty-three years ago, my scholarship would have been more impactful, my thinking would have been clearer, and most importantly the quality of my life - particularly the quality of my life while writing papers - would have been much, much higher. If I had read it before getting my Masters in International Affairs at Columbia University twenty-four years ago (yah, I know: another Ivy League school - what’s with this guy?!), the same would have been true. At the risk of sounding inflated myself, I’ve sprinkled in my academic laurels to persuade you to take my advice seriously. I want you to read it that much.
Now that I am pursuing my third post-secondary degree, a Master in Counseling Psychology at CIIS, I am super grateful that I’ve found this book. It has helped me accelerate my reading speed, increase my reading retention, improve my critical thinking, better structure my writing process (which makes it more efficient), and clarify effective steps in the research process.
Thank you, Professor Shore, for taking the time out of your scholarship to write this book. Maybe you can follow in Malcom’s footsteps and “make millions and be paid staggering sums to give talks around the world” (Shore, 2016, p. 144), except do it without sacrificing your scholarly principles. By the way, great job following your own advice in the section “Confront Counter-evidence Directly” (pp. 142-4), by hooking the reader a bold claim (Gladwell is the greatest), setting up tension by providing a counter-claim (scholars don’t like him), challenging the counter-claim (scholars don’t realize his contribution), and then throwing us a curve ball to keep us engaged by dismantling all of Gladwell’s “counter-evidence” (he evades rather than confronts the critique against him), and ultimately agreeing with those scholars (don’t be like Malcom if you want to be a scholar). You mirror in your own approach the EXACT content you are trying to teach! I love how you do that throughout the book without “hitting us over the head with it” (oops, a hackneyed cliché, sorry)… without drawing awareness to your cleverness like a bad “dad joke.”
You get an A for content and an A+ for style, Professor Shore.
More specifically, what could it possibly teach you if you are among its target audience of ambitious undergraduate, serious Masters level, or accomplished doctor-level students? I asked myself the same thing when my current Master’s program at the California Institute of Integral Studies recommended it as pre-reading for our program. My son, who is headed off to the Ivy League college, Brown University, this Fall as an undergraduate (yes, I’m a proud papa), scoffed when I told him he should read it: “I already know how to read and write, Dad - I just got into Brown!” (Okay, we’ll work on the humility before he leaves). Conceded that both the title (what if you’re an undergraduate?) and the chapters may be off-putting (sorry, Professor Shore).
Yet, I can’t recommend enough the focused, clear guidance in this concise, well-organized treasure of a book.
Are its claims of teaching you something important about reading, writing, speaking, acting, and researching in Grad. School lofty? Yes. Yes, they are. Does he pull it off? Yes. Yes, he does. In fact, he’s following his own advice: “Answer a Meaningful Question (Shore, Z., 2016, p.123). What if this short, well-organized book really could transform the way you read, write, speak, and research? Well, now that would be something. And it is.
If I had read this book before heading off to get my undergraduate degree in German literature and language at Dartmouth College (another one of those ivies) thirty-three years ago, my scholarship would have been more impactful, my thinking would have been clearer, and most importantly the quality of my life - particularly the quality of my life while writing papers - would have been much, much higher. If I had read it before getting my Masters in International Affairs at Columbia University twenty-four years ago (yah, I know: another Ivy League school - what’s with this guy?!), the same would have been true. At the risk of sounding inflated myself, I’ve sprinkled in my academic laurels to persuade you to take my advice seriously. I want you to read it that much.
Now that I am pursuing my third post-secondary degree, a Master in Counseling Psychology at CIIS, I am super grateful that I’ve found this book. It has helped me accelerate my reading speed, increase my reading retention, improve my critical thinking, better structure my writing process (which makes it more efficient), and clarify effective steps in the research process.
Thank you, Professor Shore, for taking the time out of your scholarship to write this book. Maybe you can follow in Malcom’s footsteps and “make millions and be paid staggering sums to give talks around the world” (Shore, 2016, p. 144), except do it without sacrificing your scholarly principles. By the way, great job following your own advice in the section “Confront Counter-evidence Directly” (pp. 142-4), by hooking the reader a bold claim (Gladwell is the greatest), setting up tension by providing a counter-claim (scholars don’t like him), challenging the counter-claim (scholars don’t realize his contribution), and then throwing us a curve ball to keep us engaged by dismantling all of Gladwell’s “counter-evidence” (he evades rather than confronts the critique against him), and ultimately agreeing with those scholars (don’t be like Malcom if you want to be a scholar). You mirror in your own approach the EXACT content you are trying to teach! I love how you do that throughout the book without “hitting us over the head with it” (oops, a hackneyed cliché, sorry)… without drawing awareness to your cleverness like a bad “dad joke.”
You get an A for content and an A+ for style, Professor Shore.
October 1, 2024
I had to read this for a class, but honestly it’s one of the most clear and useful books I’ve read on the subject of academia
June 15, 2017
I read this mostly to evaluate it for my future college student, and once again I find myself looking around for a time machine to send it back to my high school or college self. This is a short book with relatively simple methods for fundamental skills for college and grad school. It's an easy and friendly read, and the methods—for reading, writing, speaking, researching, and acting like a successful student—aren't demanding to understand.
That's a good thing; simple methods leave plenty of mental capacity to deal with the material you're studying, rather than imposing a struggle to remember the 27 steps of reading a book. The main contributions of this book are the suggested methods for reading and writing. The first 50-60 pages would have been a big help for me, and I think they're the most easily useful parts of the book.
Nobody really teaches us how to study and learn. We're just supposed to pick up the skills somehow, as we plod through the reading, prepare for the exams, and write the papers. Grad School Essentials isn't the only book to help fill in the skills gap, but it's a good addition to the student kit.
That's a good thing; simple methods leave plenty of mental capacity to deal with the material you're studying, rather than imposing a struggle to remember the 27 steps of reading a book. The main contributions of this book are the suggested methods for reading and writing. The first 50-60 pages would have been a big help for me, and I think they're the most easily useful parts of the book.
Nobody really teaches us how to study and learn. We're just supposed to pick up the skills somehow, as we plod through the reading, prepare for the exams, and write the papers. Grad School Essentials isn't the only book to help fill in the skills gap, but it's a good addition to the student kit.
July 22, 2021
A must-read for undergraduate and graduate students, especially those pursuing an academic career in the social sciences. There are strategies listed to tackle reading large quantities of material, writing coherent arguments, engaging a public audience, and many more challenges found in graduate programs.
December 14, 2022
This book was the single most worthless book assigned to me this semester. The author adds so much fluff in an effort to be funny that all this book achieves is teaching you how to skim for the few common-sensical things which you already know. The single passage I had marked with a post-it note was so unremarkable upon returning to it that I refuse to reproduce it here. Just please never assign this to your students if you're an educator, and if you're a student, please just ask friends or family who are in grad school, because you'll actually learn anything.
Ultimately this book was a "5 Tips for Grad School" buzzfeed article that inexplicably was blown up to the size of a "book" and contains insulting chapters such as "How to Read, Part I", "How to Act", and "How to Speak."
Excuse me as I go burn this book in my bathtub. Or, if not, I might use it for blackout poetry (which is ironic, because apparently the author is blind? who gives a shit, he's no Homer or Milton).
Ultimately this book was a "5 Tips for Grad School" buzzfeed article that inexplicably was blown up to the size of a "book" and contains insulting chapters such as "How to Read, Part I", "How to Act", and "How to Speak."
Excuse me as I go burn this book in my bathtub. Or, if not, I might use it for blackout poetry (which is ironic, because apparently the author is blind? who gives a shit, he's no Homer or Milton).
Read
March 1, 2026I guess I won’t know how truly useful this book is until I presumably attend graduate school and presumably attain a degree. As of right now, this book is tentatively very useful. It’s been a few years since I was in the academic world, so there were some fantastic reminders in here, as well as pointers on how I can be a better student than I was already planning on being. For such a slim volume, I took quite a few notes, which I intend on returning to here in a few months. Bottom line: if I complete my Masters degrees, I’ll give Dr. Shore a lot of credit; if I don’t, I’ll sue him or something.
It was lowkey crazy for him to explicitly recommend Valium tho…
It was lowkey crazy for him to explicitly recommend Valium tho…
January 25, 2023
political views should be omitted-comes across as unprofessional which diminishes from the book.
Good book but I don’t want an author’s political views interwoven into book content unless I am reading a book on politics. Since the author preaches simplicity he might take a chapter from his own lesson and apply it to his writing. Apart from that I like the book. Loved it UNTIL I read a few remarks as noted. Disappointed at the lack of self discipline reflected by these remarks.
Good book but I don’t want an author’s political views interwoven into book content unless I am reading a book on politics. Since the author preaches simplicity he might take a chapter from his own lesson and apply it to his writing. Apart from that I like the book. Loved it UNTIL I read a few remarks as noted. Disappointed at the lack of self discipline reflected by these remarks.
April 10, 2023
He has an...interesting suggestion on how to read all articles/books/etc. It is weird and may work, but difficult to switch to. Some of his suggestions are helpful and interesting, but reading this in between 2 different grad programs, he is a bit off his mark to say "no one has time for all the assigned reading." That is highly program dependent.
He does have a weird/wrong definition of imposter syndrome that made it hard to take that section seriously.
If you are looking for a lighthearted easy to read book to prepare you for reading/researching in grad school this is a good bet.
He does have a weird/wrong definition of imposter syndrome that made it hard to take that section seriously.
If you are looking for a lighthearted easy to read book to prepare you for reading/researching in grad school this is a good bet.
July 23, 2024
A very good, straightforward, optimistic guide to graduate school. I wish I had read this before I started (or finished) my PhD.
A quote from the book: "Working smart is not just a smart way of working, but a way of working that helps make you smarter."
In particular, the first two chapters on how to read and critique academic writing were really helpful.
The other chapters were also good, but I prefer other sources for that content. Perhaps the topics were too big for their one single chapter, but the chapters on reading and critiquing strategies were the right scope/depth.
A quote from the book: "Working smart is not just a smart way of working, but a way of working that helps make you smarter."
In particular, the first two chapters on how to read and critique academic writing were really helpful.
The other chapters were also good, but I prefer other sources for that content. Perhaps the topics were too big for their one single chapter, but the chapters on reading and critiquing strategies were the right scope/depth.
February 3, 2018
Powerful advice for anyone who reads, writes, and researches, all delivered with chatty charm. I wish I’d read this in high school, then again every year since. I’m especially grateful for Shore’s advice on reading nonfiction texts efficiently. He’s made me much more effective. I’d recommend (no, give) this book to anyone who searches for new truths through research.
August 5, 2018
Helpful for those entering graduate school
I found this book to be very helpful for those not knowing what to expect from grad school from either too many varying accounts or accounts that are overly simplified. This book was cleanly constructed and pinpointed specifics that one can refer to throughout their studies.
I found this book to be very helpful for those not knowing what to expect from grad school from either too many varying accounts or accounts that are overly simplified. This book was cleanly constructed and pinpointed specifics that one can refer to throughout their studies.
August 15, 2020
An insider's how to/reference book that can be applied to any level of post-secondary education. Teh author addresses how to:
read,
write,
speak,
act, and
research
within an academic setting. There is good, actionable advice in all aspects. There are lots of "I wish I'd known this when I was in school" moments if you haven't had training in how to study.
read,
write,
speak,
act, and
research
within an academic setting. There is good, actionable advice in all aspects. There are lots of "I wish I'd known this when I was in school" moments if you haven't had training in how to study.
August 28, 2024
I think this is a great book and an easy read. Shore clearly lays out a number of common issues he sees in writing. It is rather sad that academia doesn't adhere to these guidelines and is "muddy" writing. As Zach Shore says, I'm often led to wonder if most academics have the faintest idea what they are talking about given the lack of clarity in many "scholarly" works.
September 24, 2018
Good, detailed book.
This book is an excellent introduction to the tips and techniques utilized by the efficient graduate student, and is designed to shape every grad student into effective academics.
This book is an excellent introduction to the tips and techniques utilized by the efficient graduate student, and is designed to shape every grad student into effective academics.
January 12, 2019
I enjoyed how easy it was to read and it did offer some good tips for general success in grad school. However, much of the book did not apply to my field of study (my fault, can't fault the book for that).
August 10, 2021
Recommended summer read prior to attending the US Army War college. A quick and easy read that helps you frame the challenges of returning to a graduate level program while offering up solutions and techniques.
December 10, 2021
As it suggests, I skimmed it rapidly through (when I could not get to sleep at night). I need some time to figure out to what extent I can apply its principles. But so far I find it pretty practical and useful.
August 7, 2023
It was pithy and useful. The only things keeping it from five stars was some advice I didn't agree with and a few mildly inappropriate examples. It will likely help me as I start my second masters program.
December 23, 2025
Sợ thể book is on how to actively read instead of passively read, how to write in a clear manner, how to speak, how to deal with troublesome professors and helpful instructors, how to research by charming archivists, and how to not create conclusions before researching.
November 2, 2020
I recommend this easy to read, immensely practical guidebook to any advanced undergraduate considering graduate school, all MA students, and all PhD. So very useful!
December 11, 2020
A must read.
September 4, 2021
Assigned this gem in my research methods course. I would have had something like this at the start of my graduate career!
October 5, 2021
Its funny and instructive.
September 18, 2023
I’m only a few weeks into grad school, and all the tricks and tools of the trade Shore included are already helping me work smarter and not harder. highly recommend!
September 29, 2023
Some of the info is super outdated—I think luckily there ARE spaces where your mentors care about you personally. However, I did find the info useful for my transition!
November 5, 2023
This book was helped me to better understand how to approach my research and improve my writing skills. Would recommend.
September 16, 2024
read for EdD seminar course, there are some good tidbits in here and the snark and sass of the author was appreciated.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews