[SantalBlush]

Completely agree. Intelligence alone is not sufficient (perhaps not even always necessary) to learn a new field. People really need experts to let them know when they're wrong until they develop the discipline to recognize it for themselves.

[TheOtherHobbes]

This is very domain-specific. It makes total sense in STEM, but is more debatable in the arts and humanities - where it seems you learn whatever specific style of writing, practice, and critical analysis is popular in academia at the time, and you're going to have a bad time if you try to step out of that.

[kd0amg]

Even there, if your goal is to learn to write in that currently preferred style, your odds are much better if you have someone who can point out when you deviate from it.