Task-specific goals play a critical role in self-regulated learning, yet little research has examined students' self-set goals for individual study sessions for authentic university tasks. We propose goals that are useful for guiding task engagement and evaluating progress are specific about time, actions, standards, and content. In Study 1, we examined characteristics of students' self-set goals. Five categories were created to describe students' goals. Students rarely included specific information regarding actions, standards, or content. In Study 2, we examined patterns of change in quality of self-set goals across a semester in which students were in a learning-to-learn course. Improvements in goal quality were either inconsistent or non-existent. Students' vague goals may indicate low motivation, incomplete understanding of the academic tasks they are assigned. Implications of vague goals for monitoring progress are discussed.