as-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu...
There are numberous authentic books on how to be a student of knowledge to assist you in your understanding of Islaam. From amongst those is a great book called hilliyatul taalibul ilm by bakr abu zaid and it has even been tranlated into english. I think its called ettiquettes in seeking knowledge. Part and parcel of becoming a student of knowledge which is a noble pursuit is to not only memorise the Qur'aan and a lot of mutoon (small texts books on a variety of topics) from amongst the topics is Aqeedah, Tawheed, Manhaj, Sulook, Lughah, al adab, im sure you are familiar with the 40 hadeeth, bulughal maram, umdaatul ahkham the books of fiqh and usoolu fiqh tafseer and many many more all of this is after you recieve the mercy of Allaah. Start off with something small to memorise like usoolu thalaatha commonly called thalaathatu usool, qawaa'idul arbah, kashf shubuhaat, masaa'il al jahiliyyah al of these books deal with tawheed and what opposes it i.e shirk also aqeedatul wasitiyyah is extremely beneficial to memorise as well well aqeedatul tahaawiyyah and sharh usool al ittiqaad li ahlis sunnah wal jamaa'ah the list goes on and on. Most of the books i mentioned above are already on this webboard. Memorisation is very important in becoming a scholar and understanding the arabic language is very important. To be a scholar is A BLESSING FROM Allaah because by them our deen is preserved and throught them we can be what the prophet (alayhi salam) was upon.
One thing I would like to clarify there is a major difference between a khateeb and daa'ee and a scholar, do not confuse them. Khateeb is one who gives the khutbah and he may posess some knowledge but he is not a scholar. A daa'ee is someone who takes it upon himself to invite pple to Islaam he maybe well versed in comparative religion or he may have read a few books but he himself is not a scholar. A scholar is the greatest of all, he knows more about the religion than he is ignorant of. These individuals have studied and memorised and sat with other real scholars and benefitted tremendously.