Step 1: Review the sample objectives taken from random sample papers.

(Note, the
examples below are presented to illustrate how specific or unspecific objectives
can be stated. The examples are not necessarily poor papers nor are they perfect in
the way they are written!) (a) Examples of weak definitions of paper objectives:
“The aims of this project are various and include exploring the definitions, material
culture, and archaeological signatures of religious phenomena, such as totemism,
animism, and earth and ancestral cults, amongst the Tallensi ethnic group.”
(Journal of Social Archaeology 2008)
“Near surface geophysics, specifically GPR, combined with traditional hydrologic
tools such as piezometers, allows a more complete description of hydrogeological
parameters that control groundwater pattern. In this paper, the detection of these
clay layers by means of GPR has allowed us to obtain the relationship between the
watercourses and the groundwater in the area during the dry season.
The study also highlights the potential application of GPR techniques in wetland
hydrology.” (Journal of Applied Geophysics 2010)
“From 2002 to 2008, over 4 million reptiles were imported into Japan. Burridge
reported that 1.7 million reptiles were imported into the United States in 1997
(Burridge and Simmons, 2003). Based on these data, it might be reasonable to
assume that large numbers of reptiles are imported into other developed countries
as well. However, there have been few reports on the interrelation among these
reptiles and the exotic ticks and tick-borne pathogens in Japan. The aim of this
study was thus to survey and characterize the present status of Borrelia invasion
into Japan via reptiles and their ectoparasitic ticks.” (Environmental Microbiology
2009) 1
“Considering the adverse effects of tremor symptoms on quality of life, we believe
that prevalence studies could play an important role in early diagnosis and
treatment. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to establish and to report the
clinical features and prevalence of subtypes of tremor in Orhangazi District of
Bursa.” (Journal of Neurological Sciences 2009)
(b) Examples of more explicit definitions of paper objectives:
“The aim of this study was to elucidate feeding preferences of lump-fish over time
and to investigate their food preferences when reared together with Atlantic salmon
in sea pens.” (Aquaculture 2015)
“The aim of this paper is to contribute to land use and land cover studies in parts
of the Sahel by evaluating the application of object-oriented classification of
panchromatic VHR data. The objectives are (1) to test a region-based image
segmentation algorithm with different proportions of spectral and shape
information and evaluate its potential to identify field boundaries, and (2) to
evaluate the classification by comparing the accuracy of an objectoriented with a
per-pixel classification.” (International Journal of Remote Sensing 2008)
“This paper examines whether incentives created by the impending turnover of
local politicians can accelerate the pace of initial public offering (IPO) activity in
certain politicized environments. Focusing on China, we exploit a research setting
where politicians are rewarded for capital market activity, firms rely on political
connections for access to capital, politicians engage in rent-seeking behavior, and
the state's objective might not be to maximize capital market or economic
efficiency.” (Journal of Financial Economics 2014)
“The objectives of this study are to assess light exposure intensity and exposure
duration above different thresholds during days with indoor, outdoor, and night
work and days off work.” (Annals of Work Exposure and Health 2