Significance is among the most important elements of a successful research paper, but is frequently misunderstood by both novices and experienced writers alike. For example:
Significant for whom?
Significant in what way?
Significant based on whose values?
And, what exact part(s) of my research project needs to demonstrate significance?
To begin answering these questions and to help you better appreciate the unique aspects of a research claim for significance, I would like you to do the following and report back with your findings here in this forum:
1.) Browse through recent research articles (within the last 3 years) published in the online open-access journal PLOS ONE (Links to an external site.) [for Social Science articles only CLICK HERE (Links to an external site.)]. Trying a search for one of your own research keywords or sorting by popularity will increase the value of this assignment for you.
2.) Read the abstracts or skim the articles paying special attention to statements about why an answer to the research question is important, useful, interesting, etc. (review ch. 3 of your text for more on significance if needed). If you find a particular article too difficult to understand or too specialized, keep looking.
3.) Select one article for which you personally agree that the research is highly significant
4.) Use the "formula" from Booth et al. to restate in your own words the significance claim of that research (They are studying ____ because they want to find out _____ in order to _____.) Try to avoid jargon and technical language in writing your significance statement.
5.) Lastly, include both a complete APA style in-text citation and a full reference to the article (so that others can review it easily)
[Dr.K Sample Post in Blue] With all of the talk in the news last year of the Zika Virus (Links to an external site.) lately, I was highly interested in the article "Human Social Behavior and Demography Drive Patterns of Fine-Scale Dengue Transmission in Endemic Areas of Colombia" in PLOS ONE.
Significance: Padmanabha et al. (2015) are studying patterns and processes of Dengue fever transmission at very small scales like city blocks because they want to find out which aspects of human behavior at this local scale help to determine densities of Dengue cases in order to improve National and State programs of detection and response to Dengue fever in places where the disease in found (Padmanabha et al. 2015).
Reference: Padmanabha H, Correa F, Rubio C, Baeza A, Osorio S, Mendez J, et al. (2015). "Human Social Behavior and Demography Drive Patterns of Fine-Scale Dengue Transmission in Endemic Areas of Colombia (Links to an external site.)." PLoS ONE 10(12): e0144451. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144451
A few tips:
1.) I found almost everything I needed to complete my significance statement in the discussion section at the end of the article.
2.) I was able to simply copy and paste the complete reference from PLOS ONE where it is provided! I had to edit it just a little to make it a perfect APA-style reference.
3.) I did everyone a favor and hyperlinked the title of the article directly to PLOS ONE to save you time.