A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007

Assemble the elements of your argument - State and evaluate your claim
Planning your argument
Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

At the core of your argument are three elements: your claim, your reasons for accepting it, and the evidence that supports those reasons. To that core, you'll add one and perhaps two more elements: one responds to questions, objections, and alternative points of view; the other answers those who do not understand how your reasons are relevant to your claim.

5.4.1 State and evaluate your claim

Start a new first page of your storyboard (or outline). At the bottom, state your claim in a sentence or two. Be as specific as you can, because the words in this claim will help you plan and execute your draft. Avoid vague value words like important, interesting, significant, and the like. Compare

Masks play a significant role in many religious ceremonies.

In cultures from pre-Columbian America to Africa and Asia, masks allow religious celebrants to bring deities to life so that worshipers experience them directly.

Now judge the significance of your claim (So what? again). A significant claim doesn't make a reader think I know that, but rather Really? How interesting. What makes you think so? (Review 2.1.4.) These next two claims are too trivial to justify reading, much less writing, a report to back them up:

This report discusses teaching popular legends such as the Battle of the Alamo to elementary school students. (So what if it does?)

Teaching our national history through popular legends such as the Battle of the Alamo is common in elementary education. (So what if it is?)

Of course, what your readers will count as interesting depends on what they know, and if you're early in your research career, that's something you can't predict. If you're writing one of your first reports, assume that your most important reader is you. It is enough if you alone think your answer is significant, if it makes you think, Well, I didn't know that when I started. If, however, you think your own claim is vague or trivial, you're not ready to assemble an argument to support it, because you have no reason to make one.