On the road to producing the best possible work, one encounters dead ends and speed traps that are difficult to avoid because they are disguised as promising, rewarding, or helpful. In this series on "good deeds" that can backfire in one's career, the author does not challenge the virtue of doing good deeds, in theory or in practice. However, some good deeds lead to disaster. Fortunately, those well-intentioned-yet-doomed actions can be avoided if one knows how to spot them. The first columns focused on teaching and service. In this article, the author turns to scholarship.