So bought a map of the Ross Barnett Reservoir at Bass Pro and I'm a total rookie at reading these maps. Any tips or advice on what to look for?

There are a lot of good posts in here already about maps and what to look for, in my opinion, the first thing I always look for/at are points.

Primary or secondary, really does not matter to me, I look for places that have interesting structure close to a point, old road beds, humps, old creek beds, etc...

I would look for humps out in deeper water. Otherwise areas with some type of depth break which shallow areas close to deeper water.

I use Iaconnelli's map reading process. Look for areas you think they would spawn in. These would be areas to hit in the spring and in the fall. Then move out from there and find the drops and points near those areas. These would be your summer and winter locales.

This is his process in a very basic nutshell, but it works well for me. His presentation of this may be on youtube.