The Specific Aims (for NIH) or Objectives (NSF) are the key to what you are proposing. You want them to be not only clearly understandable to your reviewer (right?), but also captivating and interesting. It seems like a straight-forward writing goal, but unfortunately, I've seen many people wander off into confusing, overly-detailed, or just plain boring aims.

So, what makes an Aim / Objective really WORK?

In this video, I take two separate, high scoring NIH proposals in different fields, and examine the primary Aims. I break them down for you into 3 major parts, and what you want to communicate in each of these parts (very concisely!).

Watch this if you want to ensure the Aims you write are connecting with your reviewers.


    2 replies to "How To Write a Specific Aim – 3 Parts to a simple and clear aim that your reviewers will “get”"

    • Anonymous

      dear dr giddings and team–your live event isn’t accessible yet–and it’s 7 minutes after. unfortunately we can’t all sit at our computers and wait

      • Site Admin

        I sincerely apologize. I thought I was broadcasting, but due to a newbie type mistake, I wasn’t. I restarted about 15 minutes in, I realize some people will not have had time to wait that long.

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