thesis looming meaning

Developing a Thesis Statement

Many papers you write require developing a thesis statement. In this section you’ll learn what a thesis statement is and how to write one.

Keep in mind that not all papers require thesis statements . If in doubt, please consult your instructor for assistance.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement . . .

• Makes an argumentative assertion about a topic; it states the conclusions that you have reached about your topic.
• Makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of your paper.
• Is focused and specific enough to be “proven” within the boundaries of your paper.
• Is generally located near the end of the introduction ; sometimes, in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or in an entire paragraph.
• Identifies the relationships between the pieces of evidence that you are using to support your argument.

Not all papers require thesis statements! Ask your instructor if you’re in doubt whether you need one.

Identify a topic

Your topic is the subject about which you will write. Your assignment may suggest several ways of looking at a topic; or it may name a fairly general concept that you will explore or analyze in your paper.

Consider what your assignment asks you to do

Inform yourself about your topic, focus on one aspect of your topic, ask yourself whether your topic is worthy of your efforts, generate a topic from an assignment.

Below are some possible topics based on sample assignments.

Sample assignment 1

Analyze Spain’s neutrality in World War II.

Identified topic

Franco’s role in the diplomatic relationships between the Allies and the Axis

This topic avoids generalities such as “Spain” and “World War II,” addressing instead on Franco’s role (a specific aspect of “Spain”) and the diplomatic relations between the Allies and Axis (a specific aspect of World War II).

Sample assignment 2

Analyze one of Homer’s epic similes in the Iliad.

The relationship between the portrayal of warfare and the epic simile about Simoisius at 4.547-64.

This topic focuses on a single simile and relates it to a single aspect of the Iliad ( warfare being a major theme in that work).

Developing a Thesis Statement–Additional information

Your assignment may suggest several ways of looking at a topic, or it may name a fairly general concept that you will explore or analyze in your paper. You’ll want to read your assignment carefully, looking for key terms that you can use to focus your topic.

Sample assignment: Analyze Spain’s neutrality in World War II Key terms: analyze, Spain’s neutrality, World War II

After you’ve identified the key words in your topic, the next step is to read about them in several sources, or generate as much information as possible through an analysis of your topic. Obviously, the more material or knowledge you have, the more possibilities will be available for a strong argument. For the sample assignment above, you’ll want to look at books and articles on World War II in general, and Spain’s neutrality in particular.

As you consider your options, you must decide to focus on one aspect of your topic. This means that you cannot include everything you’ve learned about your topic, nor should you go off in several directions. If you end up covering too many different aspects of a topic, your paper will sprawl and be unconvincing in its argument, and it most likely will not fulfull the assignment requirements.

For the sample assignment above, both Spain’s neutrality and World War II are topics far too broad to explore in a paper. You may instead decide to focus on Franco’s role in the diplomatic relationships between the Allies and the Axis , which narrows down what aspects of Spain’s neutrality and World War II you want to discuss, as well as establishes a specific link between those two aspects.

Before you go too far, however, ask yourself whether your topic is worthy of your efforts. Try to avoid topics that already have too much written about them (i.e., “eating disorders and body image among adolescent women”) or that simply are not important (i.e. “why I like ice cream”). These topics may lead to a thesis that is either dry fact or a weird claim that cannot be supported. A good thesis falls somewhere between the two extremes. To arrive at this point, ask yourself what is new, interesting, contestable, or controversial about your topic.

As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times . Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.

Derive a main point from topic

Once you have a topic, you will have to decide what the main point of your paper will be. This point, the “controlling idea,” becomes the core of your argument (thesis statement) and it is the unifying idea to which you will relate all your sub-theses. You can then turn this “controlling idea” into a purpose statement about what you intend to do in your paper.

Look for patterns in your evidence

Compose a purpose statement.

Consult the examples below for suggestions on how to look for patterns in your evidence and construct a purpose statement.

• Franco first tried to negotiate with the Axis
• Franco turned to the Allies when he couldn’t get some concessions that he wanted from the Axis

Possible conclusion:

Spain’s neutrality in WWII occurred for an entirely personal reason: Franco’s desire to preserve his own (and Spain’s) power.

Purpose statement

This paper will analyze Franco’s diplomacy during World War II to see how it contributed to Spain’s neutrality.

• The simile compares Simoisius to a tree, which is a peaceful, natural image.
• The tree in the simile is chopped down to make wheels for a chariot, which is an object used in warfare.

At first, the simile seems to take the reader away from the world of warfare, but we end up back in that world by the end.

This paper will analyze the way the simile about Simoisius at 4.547-64 moves in and out of the world of warfare.

Derive purpose statement from topic

To find out what your “controlling idea” is, you have to examine and evaluate your evidence . As you consider your evidence, you may notice patterns emerging, data repeated in more than one source, or facts that favor one view more than another. These patterns or data may then lead you to some conclusions about your topic and suggest that you can successfully argue for one idea better than another.

For instance, you might find out that Franco first tried to negotiate with the Axis, but when he couldn’t get some concessions that he wanted from them, he turned to the Allies. As you read more about Franco’s decisions, you may conclude that Spain’s neutrality in WWII occurred for an entirely personal reason: his desire to preserve his own (and Spain’s) power. Based on this conclusion, you can then write a trial thesis statement to help you decide what material belongs in your paper.

Sometimes you won’t be able to find a focus or identify your “spin” or specific argument immediately. Like some writers, you might begin with a purpose statement just to get yourself going. A purpose statement is one or more sentences that announce your topic and indicate the structure of the paper but do not state the conclusions you have drawn . Thus, you might begin with something like this:

• This paper will look at modern language to see if it reflects male dominance or female oppression.
• I plan to analyze anger and derision in offensive language to see if they represent a challenge of society’s authority.

At some point, you can turn a purpose statement into a thesis statement. As you think and write about your topic, you can restrict, clarify, and refine your argument, crafting your thesis statement to reflect your thinking.

As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.

Compose a draft thesis statement

If you are writing a paper that will have an argumentative thesis and are having trouble getting started, the techniques in the table below may help you develop a temporary or “working” thesis statement.

Begin with a purpose statement that you will later turn into a thesis statement.

Assignment: Discuss the history of the Reform Party and explain its influence on the 1990 presidential and Congressional election.

Purpose Statement: This paper briefly sketches the history of the grassroots, conservative, Perot-led Reform Party and analyzes how it influenced the economic and social ideologies of the two mainstream parties.

Question-to-Assertion

If your assignment asks a specific question(s), turn the question(s) into an assertion and give reasons why it is true or reasons for your opinion.

Assignment : What do Aylmer and Rappaccini have to be proud of? Why aren’t they satisfied with these things? How does pride, as demonstrated in “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” lead to unexpected problems?

Beginning thesis statement: Alymer and Rappaccinni are proud of their great knowledge; however, they are also very greedy and are driven to use their knowledge to alter some aspect of nature as a test of their ability. Evil results when they try to “play God.”

Write a sentence that summarizes the main idea of the essay you plan to write.

Main idea: The reason some toys succeed in the market is that they appeal to the consumers’ sense of the ridiculous and their basic desire to laugh at themselves.

Make a list of the ideas that you want to include; consider the ideas and try to group them.

• nature = peaceful
• war matériel = violent (competes with 1?)
• need for time and space to mourn the dead
• war is inescapable (competes with 3?)

Use a formula to arrive at a working thesis statement (you will revise this later).

• although most readers of _______ have argued that _______, closer examination shows that _______.
• _______ uses _______ and _____ to prove that ________.
• phenomenon x is a result of the combination of __________, __________, and _________.

What to keep in mind as you draft an initial thesis statement

Beginning statements obtained through the methods illustrated above can serve as a framework for planning or drafting your paper, but remember they’re not yet the specific, argumentative thesis you want for the final version of your paper. In fact, in its first stages, a thesis statement usually is ill-formed or rough and serves only as a planning tool.

As you write, you may discover evidence that does not fit your temporary or “working” thesis. Or you may reach deeper insights about your topic as you do more research, and you will find that your thesis statement has to be more complicated to match the evidence that you want to use.

You must be willing to reject or omit some evidence in order to keep your paper cohesive and your reader focused. Or you may have to revise your thesis to match the evidence and insights that you want to discuss. Read your draft carefully, noting the conclusions you have drawn and the major ideas which support or prove those conclusions. These will be the elements of your final thesis statement.

Sometimes you will not be able to identify these elements in your early drafts, but as you consider how your argument is developing and how your evidence supports your main idea, ask yourself, “ What is the main point that I want to prove/discuss? ” and “ How will I convince the reader that this is true? ” When you can answer these questions, then you can begin to refine the thesis statement.

Refine and polish the thesis statement

To get to your final thesis, you’ll need to refine your draft thesis so that it’s specific and arguable.

• Ask if your draft thesis addresses the assignment
• Question each part of your draft thesis
• Clarify vague phrases and assertions
• Investigate alternatives to your draft thesis

Consult the example below for suggestions on how to refine your draft thesis statement.

Sample Assignment

Choose an activity and define it as a symbol of American culture. Your essay should cause the reader to think critically about the society which produces and enjoys that activity.

• Ask The phenomenon of drive-in facilities is an interesting symbol of american culture, and these facilities demonstrate significant characteristics of our society.This statement does not fulfill the assignment because it does not require the reader to think critically about society.

Drive-ins are an interesting symbol of American culture because they represent Americans’ significant creativity and business ingenuity.

Among the types of drive-in facilities familiar during the twentieth century, drive-in movie theaters best represent American creativity, not merely because they were the forerunner of later drive-ins and drive-throughs, but because of their impact on our culture: they changed our relationship to the automobile, changed the way people experienced movies, and changed movie-going into a family activity.

While drive-in facilities such as those at fast-food establishments, banks, pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize America’s economic ingenuity, they also have affected our personal standards.

While drive-in facilities such as those at fast- food restaurants, banks, pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize (1) Americans’ business ingenuity, they also have contributed (2) to an increasing homogenization of our culture, (3) a willingness to depersonalize relationships with others, and (4) a tendency to sacrifice quality for convenience.

This statement is now specific and fulfills all parts of the assignment. This version, like any good thesis, is not self-evident; its points, 1-4, will have to be proven with evidence in the body of the paper. The numbers in this statement indicate the order in which the points will be presented. Depending on the length of the paper, there could be one paragraph for each numbered item or there could be blocks of paragraph for even pages for each one.

Complete the final thesis statement

The bottom line.

As you move through the process of crafting a thesis, you’ll need to remember four things:

• Context matters! Think about your course materials and lectures. Try to relate your thesis to the ideas your instructor is discussing.
• As you go through the process described in this section, always keep your assignment in mind . You will be more successful when your thesis (and paper) responds to the assignment than if it argues a semi-related idea.
• Your thesis statement should be precise, focused, and contestable ; it should predict the sub-theses or blocks of information that you will use to prove your argument.
• Make sure that you keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Change your thesis as your paper evolves, because you do not want your thesis to promise more than your paper actually delivers.

In the beginning, the thesis statement was a tool to help you sharpen your focus, limit material and establish the paper’s purpose. When your paper is finished, however, the thesis statement becomes a tool for your reader. It tells the reader what you have learned about your topic and what evidence led you to your conclusion. It keeps the reader on track–well able to understand and appreciate your argument.

Writing Process and Structure

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

Getting Started with Your Paper

Interpreting Writing Assignments from Your Courses

Generating Ideas for

Creating an Argument

Thesis vs. Purpose Statements

Architecture of Arguments

Working with Sources

Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources

Using Literary Quotations

Citing Sources in Your Paper

Drafting Your Paper

Generating Ideas for Your Paper

Introductions

Paragraphing

Developing Strategic Transitions

Conclusions

Revising Your Paper

Peer Reviews

Reverse Outlines

Revising an Argumentative Paper

Revision Strategies for Longer Projects

Finishing Your Paper

Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

How to Proofread your Paper

Writing Collaboratively

Collaborative and Group Writing

While Sandel argues that pursuing perfection through genetic engineering would decrease our sense of humility, he claims that the sense of solidarity we would lose is also important.

This thesis summarizes several points in Sandel’s argument, but it does not make a claim about how we should understand his argument. A reader who read Sandel’s argument would not also need to read an essay based on this descriptive thesis.  

Broad thesis (arguable, but difficult to support with evidence) 

Michael Sandel’s arguments about genetic engineering do not take into consideration all the relevant issues.

This is an arguable claim because it would be possible to argue against it by saying that Michael Sandel’s arguments do take all of the relevant issues into consideration. But the claim is too broad. Because the thesis does not specify which “issues” it is focused on—or why it matters if they are considered—readers won’t know what the rest of the essay will argue, and the writer won’t know what to focus on. If there is a particular issue that Sandel does not address, then a more specific version of the thesis would include that issue—hand an explanation of why it is important.  

Arguable thesis with analytical claim 

While Sandel argues persuasively that our instinct to “remake” (54) ourselves into something ever more perfect is a problem, his belief that we can always draw a line between what is medically necessary and what makes us simply “better than well” (51) is less convincing.

This is an arguable analytical claim. To argue for this claim, the essay writer will need to show how evidence from the article itself points to this interpretation. It’s also a reasonable scope for a thesis because it can be supported with evidence available in the text and is neither too broad nor too narrow.  

Arguable thesis with normative claim 

Given Sandel’s argument against genetic enhancement, we should not allow parents to decide on using Human Growth Hormone for their children.

This thesis tells us what we should do about a particular issue discussed in Sandel’s article, but it does not tell us how we should understand Sandel’s argument.  

Questions to ask about your thesis 

• Is the thesis truly arguable? Does it speak to a genuine dilemma in the source, or would most readers automatically agree with it?  
• Is the thesis too obvious? Again, would most or all readers agree with it without needing to see your argument?  
• Is the thesis complex enough to require a whole essay's worth of argument?  
• Is the thesis supportable with evidence from the text rather than with generalizations or outside research?  
• Would anyone want to read a paper in which this thesis was developed? That is, can you explain what this paper is adding to our understanding of a problem, question, or topic?
• picture_as_pdf Thesis

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Writing a Paper: Thesis Statements

Basics of thesis statements.

The thesis statement is the brief articulation of your paper's central argument and purpose. You might hear it referred to as simply a "thesis." Every scholarly paper should have a thesis statement, and strong thesis statements are concise, specific, and arguable. Concise means the thesis is short: perhaps one or two sentences for a shorter paper. Specific means the thesis deals with a narrow and focused topic, appropriate to the paper's length. Arguable means that a scholar in your field could disagree (or perhaps already has!).

Strong thesis statements address specific intellectual questions, have clear positions, and use a structure that reflects the overall structure of the paper. Read on to learn more about constructing a strong thesis statement.

Being Specific

This thesis statement has no specific argument:

Needs Improvement: In this essay, I will examine two scholarly articles to find similarities and differences.

This statement is concise, but it is neither specific nor arguable—a reader might wonder, "Which scholarly articles? What is the topic of this paper? What field is the author writing in?" Additionally, the purpose of the paper—to "examine…to find similarities and differences" is not of a scholarly level. Identifying similarities and differences is a good first step, but strong academic argument goes further, analyzing what those similarities and differences might mean or imply.

Better: In this essay, I will argue that Bowler's (2003) autocratic management style, when coupled with Smith's (2007) theory of social cognition, can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover.

The new revision here is still concise, as well as specific and arguable.  We can see that it is specific because the writer is mentioning (a) concrete ideas and (b) exact authors.  We can also gather the field (business) and the topic (management and employee turnover). The statement is arguable because the student goes beyond merely comparing; he or she draws conclusions from that comparison ("can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover").

Making a Unique Argument

This thesis draft repeats the language of the writing prompt without making a unique argument:

Needs Improvement: The purpose of this essay is to monitor, assess, and evaluate an educational program for its strengths and weaknesses. Then, I will provide suggestions for improvement.

You can see here that the student has simply stated the paper's assignment, without articulating specifically how he or she will address it. The student can correct this error simply by phrasing the thesis statement as a specific answer to the assignment prompt.

Better: Through a series of student interviews, I found that Kennedy High School's antibullying program was ineffective. In order to address issues of conflict between students, I argue that Kennedy High School should embrace policies outlined by the California Department of Education (2010).

Words like "ineffective" and "argue" show here that the student has clearly thought through the assignment and analyzed the material; he or she is putting forth a specific and debatable position. The concrete information ("student interviews," "antibullying") further prepares the reader for the body of the paper and demonstrates how the student has addressed the assignment prompt without just restating that language.

Creating a Debate

This thesis statement includes only obvious fact or plot summary instead of argument:

Needs Improvement: Leadership is an important quality in nurse educators.

A good strategy to determine if your thesis statement is too broad (and therefore, not arguable) is to ask yourself, "Would a scholar in my field disagree with this point?" Here, we can see easily that no scholar is likely to argue that leadership is an unimportant quality in nurse educators.  The student needs to come up with a more arguable claim, and probably a narrower one; remember that a short paper needs a more focused topic than a dissertation.

Better: Roderick's (2009) theory of participatory leadership  is particularly appropriate to nurse educators working within the emergency medicine field, where students benefit most from collegial and kinesthetic learning.

Here, the student has identified a particular type of leadership ("participatory leadership"), narrowing the topic, and has made an arguable claim (this type of leadership is "appropriate" to a specific type of nurse educator). Conceivably, a scholar in the nursing field might disagree with this approach. The student's paper can now proceed, providing specific pieces of evidence to support the arguable central claim.

Choosing the Right Words

This thesis statement uses large or scholarly-sounding words that have no real substance:

Needs Improvement: Scholars should work to seize metacognitive outcomes by harnessing discipline-based networks to empower collaborative infrastructures.

There are many words in this sentence that may be buzzwords in the student's field or key terms taken from other texts, but together they do not communicate a clear, specific meaning. Sometimes students think scholarly writing means constructing complex sentences using special language, but actually it's usually a stronger choice to write clear, simple sentences. When in doubt, remember that your ideas should be complex, not your sentence structure.

Better: Ecologists should work to educate the U.S. public on conservation methods by making use of local and national green organizations to create a widespread communication plan.

Notice in the revision that the field is now clear (ecology), and the language has been made much more field-specific ("conservation methods," "green organizations"), so the reader is able to see concretely the ideas the student is communicating.

Leaving Room for Discussion

This thesis statement is not capable of development or advancement in the paper:

Needs Improvement: There are always alternatives to illegal drug use.

This sample thesis statement makes a claim, but it is not a claim that will sustain extended discussion. This claim is the type of claim that might be appropriate for the conclusion of a paper, but in the beginning of the paper, the student is left with nowhere to go. What further points can be made? If there are "always alternatives" to the problem the student is identifying, then why bother developing a paper around that claim? Ideally, a thesis statement should be complex enough to explore over the length of the entire paper.

Better: The most effective treatment plan for methamphetamine addiction may be a combination of pharmacological and cognitive therapy, as argued by Baker (2008), Smith (2009), and Xavier (2011).

In the revised thesis, you can see the student make a specific, debatable claim that has the potential to generate several pages' worth of discussion. When drafting a thesis statement, think about the questions your thesis statement will generate: What follow-up inquiries might a reader have? In the first example, there are almost no additional questions implied, but the revised example allows for a good deal more exploration.

Thesis Mad Libs

If you are having trouble getting started, try using the models below to generate a rough model of a thesis statement! These models are intended for drafting purposes only and should not appear in your final work.

• In this essay, I argue ____, using ______ to assert _____.
• While scholars have often argued ______, I argue______, because_______.
• Through an analysis of ______, I argue ______, which is important because_______.

Words to Avoid and to Embrace

When drafting your thesis statement, avoid words like explore, investigate, learn, compile, summarize , and explain to describe the main purpose of your paper. These words imply a paper that summarizes or "reports," rather than synthesizing and analyzing.

Instead of the terms above, try words like argue, critique, question , and interrogate . These more analytical words may help you begin strongly, by articulating a specific, critical, scholarly position.

Read Kayla's blog post for tips on taking a stand in a well-crafted thesis statement.

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Writing a Thesis is Like Weaving on a Loom

This is a guest post from Rod Pitcher , a PhD student in Education at The Centre for Higher Education, Learning and Teaching at the Australian National University , Canberra, Australia. The focus of his study is the metaphors that doctoral students use when describing their research and other matters related to their studies. In this post he shares a particularly useful metaphor…

The raw materials

The weaver gathers together the raw materials very carefully so that they will fit in with the required overall appearance of the finished cloth. The materials must blend together to produce the final effect required. Putting in a wrong piece of material, just because it is available, may ruin the whole effect. Every piece must be carefully considered to make sure that it fits.

So too the material that goes into the thesis must be considered properly for its proper fit and meaning. Putting in extraneous material where it doesn’t fit will ruin the functioning of the whole thesis. Care must be taken that the parts will fit together properly and complement each other.

Putting it together

Each piece of raw material must be fed into the loom at the right time and place. Each piece will have a place where it fits and many, many places where it doesn’t. Deciding which is the right place is one of the demands of constructing the finished material. If the material is to be properly woven and become aesthetically pleasing this must be done for every bit of material and at every step of the weaving. Anything else will produce a mish-mash of conflicting colours and textures that will bewilder and confuse the eye and mind of the beholder.

So too care must be taken that the right data is entered into the thesis at the right place and time. Putting the discussion of the theory where the conclusions should go will ruin it completely. The data must fit and flow with the progression of the thesis as a story.

Completing the finished cloth

Even when all the raw materials have been fed into the finished cloth the job is not finished. The ends of the warp threads must be tied off, so that the cloth does not fall to pieces when it is taken off the loom. Any loose ends of threads have to be tidied up so that the finished cloth has a smooth appearance. Any loose ends must be either removed or sewn into the rest of the material. The final tidying up is as important as any other stage in weaving the finished cloth because it will affect its appearance and durability.

So too, the thesis must be tidied up to produce the final draft. A loose end, if allowed to flutter uncontrolled might break the whole of the thesis. The beginning and end must be tied together properly to produce the proper appearance and continuity in its story.

The final cutting

Even when the finished material is taken off the loom the work is not finished. The cloth needs to be cut for its final purpose. Without the cutting the cloth will be but an unfinished product. When the cloth is cut to make whatever is required it will then fulfil its true and final purpose.

So too the initial drafts of the thesis will require cutting and pasting and tidying up to produce the final draft that goes to the examiners. They will want to see a thesis that is properly completed.

The work only finishes when the final, examiners’ revisions are done and the thesis is properly bound and placed on the library shelf for all to admire and read. Only then can the thesis writer relax and claim that the work is finished. As a reward s/he will then have the hard-earned title of Doctor.

So what do you think of this metaphor? Does it help you think about the materials that will go into your thesis and how to weave it? If the metaphor doesn’t work for you, what might be a better one?

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The Thesis Whisperer is written by Professor Inger Mewburn, director of researcher development at The Australian National University . New posts on the first Wednesday of the month. Subscribe by email below. Visit the About page to find out more about me, my podcasts and books. I'm on most social media platforms as @thesiswhisperer. The best places to talk to me are LinkedIn , Mastodon and Threads.

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What is a thesis | A Complete Guide with Examples

Table of Contents

A thesis is a comprehensive academic paper based on your original research that presents new findings, arguments, and ideas of your study. It’s typically submitted at the end of your master’s degree or as a capstone of your bachelor’s degree.

However, writing a thesis can be laborious, especially for beginners. From the initial challenge of pinpointing a compelling research topic to organizing and presenting findings, the process is filled with potential pitfalls.

Therefore, to help you, this guide talks about what is a thesis. Additionally, it offers revelations and methodologies to transform it from an overwhelming task to a manageable and rewarding academic milestone.

What is a thesis?

A thesis is an in-depth research study that identifies a particular topic of inquiry and presents a clear argument or perspective about that topic using evidence and logic.

Writing a thesis showcases your ability of critical thinking, gathering evidence, and making a compelling argument. Integral to these competencies is thorough research, which not only fortifies your propositions but also confers credibility to your entire study.

Furthermore, there's another phenomenon you might often confuse with the thesis: the ' working thesis .' However, they aren't similar and shouldn't be used interchangeably.

A working thesis, often referred to as a preliminary or tentative thesis, is an initial version of your thesis statement. It serves as a draft or a starting point that guides your research in its early stages.

As you research more and gather more evidence, your initial thesis (aka working thesis) might change. It's like a starting point that can be adjusted as you learn more. It's normal for your main topic to change a few times before you finalize it.

While a thesis identifies and provides an overarching argument, the key to clearly communicating the central point of that argument lies in writing a strong thesis statement.

What is a thesis statement?

A strong thesis statement (aka thesis sentence) is a concise summary of the main argument or claim of the paper. It serves as a critical anchor in any academic work, succinctly encapsulating the primary argument or main idea of the entire paper.

Typically found within the introductory section, a strong thesis statement acts as a roadmap of your thesis, directing readers through your arguments and findings. By delineating the core focus of your investigation, it offers readers an immediate understanding of the context and the gravity of your study.

Furthermore, an effectively crafted thesis statement can set forth the boundaries of your research, helping readers anticipate the specific areas of inquiry you are addressing.

Different types of thesis statements

A good thesis statement is clear, specific, and arguable. Therefore, it is necessary for you to choose the right type of thesis statement for your academic papers.

Thesis statements can be classified based on their purpose and structure. Here are the primary types of thesis statements:

Argumentative (or Persuasive) thesis statement

Purpose : To convince the reader of a particular stance or point of view by presenting evidence and formulating a compelling argument.

Example : Reducing plastic use in daily life is essential for environmental health.

Analytical thesis statement

Purpose : To break down an idea or issue into its components and evaluate it.

Example : By examining the long-term effects, social implications, and economic impact of climate change, it becomes evident that immediate global action is necessary.

Expository (or Descriptive) thesis statement

Purpose : To explain a topic or subject to the reader.

Example : The Great Depression, spanning the 1930s, was a severe worldwide economic downturn triggered by a stock market crash, bank failures, and reduced consumer spending.

Cause and effect thesis statement

Purpose : To demonstrate a cause and its resulting effect.

Example : Overuse of smartphones can lead to impaired sleep patterns, reduced face-to-face social interactions, and increased levels of anxiety.

Compare and contrast thesis statement

Purpose : To highlight similarities and differences between two subjects.

Example : "While both novels '1984' and 'Brave New World' delve into dystopian futures, they differ in their portrayal of individual freedom, societal control, and the role of technology."

When you write a thesis statement , it's important to ensure clarity and precision, so the reader immediately understands the central focus of your work.

What is the difference between a thesis and a thesis statement?

While both terms are frequently used interchangeably, they have distinct meanings.

A thesis refers to the entire research document, encompassing all its chapters and sections. In contrast, a thesis statement is a brief assertion that encapsulates the central argument of the research.

Here’s an in-depth differentiation table of a thesis and a thesis statement.

Now, to craft a compelling thesis, it's crucial to adhere to a specific structure. Let’s break down these essential components that make up a thesis structure

15 components of a thesis structure

Navigating a thesis can be daunting. However, understanding its structure can make the process more manageable.

Here are the key components or different sections of a thesis structure:

Your thesis begins with the title page. It's not just a formality but the gateway to your research.

Here, you'll prominently display the necessary information about you (the author) and your institutional details.

• Title of your thesis
• Your full name
• Your department
• Your institution and degree program
• Your submission date
• Your Supervisor's name (in some cases)
• Your Department or faculty (in some cases)
• Your University's logo (in some cases)
• Your Student ID (in some cases)

In a concise manner, you'll have to summarize the critical aspects of your research in typically no more than 200-300 words.

This includes the problem statement, methodology, key findings, and conclusions. For many, the abstract will determine if they delve deeper into your work, so ensure it's clear and compelling.

Acknowledgments

Research is rarely a solitary endeavor. In the acknowledgments section, you have the chance to express gratitude to those who've supported your journey.

This might include advisors, peers, institutions, or even personal sources of inspiration and support. It's a personal touch, reflecting the humanity behind the academic rigor.

Table of contents

A roadmap for your readers, the table of contents lists the chapters, sections, and subsections of your thesis.

By providing page numbers, you allow readers to navigate your work easily, jumping to sections that pique their interest.

List of figures and tables

Research often involves data, and presenting this data visually can enhance understanding. This section provides an organized listing of all figures and tables in your thesis.

It's a visual index, ensuring that readers can quickly locate and reference your graphical data.

Introduction

Here's where you introduce your research topic, articulate the research question or objective, and outline the significance of your study.

• Present the research topic : Clearly articulate the central theme or subject of your research.
• Background information : Ground your research topic, providing any necessary context or background information your readers might need to understand the significance of your study.
• Define the scope : Clearly delineate the boundaries of your research, indicating what will and won't be covered.
• Literature review : Introduce any relevant existing research on your topic, situating your work within the broader academic conversation and highlighting where your research fits in.
• State the research Question(s) or objective(s) : Clearly articulate the primary questions or objectives your research aims to address.
• Outline the study's structure : Give a brief overview of how the subsequent sections of your work will unfold, guiding your readers through the journey ahead.

The introduction should captivate your readers, making them eager to delve deeper into your research journey.

Literature review section

Your study correlates with existing research. Therefore, in the literature review section, you'll engage in a dialogue with existing knowledge, highlighting relevant studies, theories, and findings.

It's here that you identify gaps in the current knowledge, positioning your research as a bridge to new insights.

To streamline this process, consider leveraging AI tools. For example, the SciSpace literature review tool enables you to efficiently explore and delve into research papers, simplifying your literature review journey.

Methodology

In the research methodology section, you’ll detail the tools, techniques, and processes you employed to gather and analyze data. This section will inform the readers about how you approached your research questions and ensures the reproducibility of your study.

Here's a breakdown of what it should encompass:

• Research Design : Describe the overall structure and approach of your research. Are you conducting a qualitative study with in-depth interviews? Or is it a quantitative study using statistical analysis? Perhaps it's a mixed-methods approach?
• Data Collection : Detail the methods you used to gather data. This could include surveys, experiments, observations, interviews, archival research, etc. Mention where you sourced your data, the duration of data collection, and any tools or instruments used.
• Sampling : If applicable, explain how you selected participants or data sources for your study. Discuss the size of your sample and the rationale behind choosing it.
• Data Analysis : Describe the techniques and tools you used to process and analyze the data. This could range from statistical tests in quantitative research to thematic analysis in qualitative research.
• Validity and Reliability : Address the steps you took to ensure the validity and reliability of your findings to ensure that your results are both accurate and consistent.
• Ethical Considerations : Highlight any ethical issues related to your research and the measures you took to address them, including — informed consent, confidentiality, and data storage and protection measures.

Moreover, different research questions necessitate different types of methodologies. For instance:

• Experimental methodology : Often used in sciences, this involves a controlled experiment to discern causality.
• Qualitative methodology : Employed when exploring patterns or phenomena without numerical data. Methods can include interviews, focus groups, or content analysis.
• Quantitative methodology : Concerned with measurable data and often involves statistical analysis. Surveys and structured observations are common tools here.
• Mixed methods : As the name implies, this combines both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

The Methodology section isn’t just about detailing the methods but also justifying why they were chosen. The appropriateness of the methods in addressing your research question can significantly impact the credibility of your findings.

Results (or Findings)

This section presents the outcomes of your research. It's crucial to note that the nature of your results may vary; they could be quantitative, qualitative, or a mix of both.

Quantitative results often present statistical data, showcasing measurable outcomes, and they benefit from tables, graphs, and figures to depict these data points.

Qualitative results , on the other hand, might delve into patterns, themes, or narratives derived from non-numerical data, such as interviews or observations.

Regardless of the nature of your results, clarity is essential. This section is purely about presenting the data without offering interpretations — that comes later in the discussion.

In the discussion section, the raw data transforms into valuable insights.

Start by revisiting your research question and contrast it with the findings. How do your results expand, constrict, or challenge current academic conversations?

Dive into the intricacies of the data, guiding the reader through its implications. Detail potential limitations transparently, signaling your awareness of the research's boundaries. This is where your academic voice should be resonant and confident.

Practical implications (Recommendation) section

Based on the insights derived from your research, this section provides actionable suggestions or proposed solutions.

Whether aimed at industry professionals or the general public, recommendations translate your academic findings into potential real-world actions. They help readers understand the practical implications of your work and how it can be applied to effect change or improvement in a given field.

When crafting recommendations, it's essential to ensure they're feasible and rooted in the evidence provided by your research. They shouldn't merely be aspirational but should offer a clear path forward, grounded in your findings.

The conclusion provides closure to your research narrative.

It's not merely a recap but a synthesis of your main findings and their broader implications. Reconnect with the research questions or hypotheses posited at the beginning, offering clear answers based on your findings.

Reflect on the broader contributions of your study, considering its impact on the academic community and potential real-world applications.

Lastly, the conclusion should leave your readers with a clear understanding of the value and impact of your study.

References (or Bibliography)

Every theory you've expounded upon, every data point you've cited, and every methodological precedent you've followed finds its acknowledgment here.

In references, it's crucial to ensure meticulous consistency in formatting, mirroring the specific guidelines of the chosen citation style .

Proper referencing helps to avoid plagiarism , gives credit to original ideas, and allows readers to explore topics of interest. Moreover, it situates your work within the continuum of academic knowledge.

To properly cite the sources used in the study, you can rely on online citation generator tools  to generate accurate citations!

Here’s more on how you can cite your sources.

Often, the depth of research produces a wealth of material that, while crucial, can make the core content of the thesis cumbersome. The appendix is where you mention extra information that supports your research but isn't central to the main text.

Whether it's raw datasets, detailed procedural methodologies, extended case studies, or any other ancillary material, the appendices ensure that these elements are archived for reference without breaking the main narrative's flow.

For thorough researchers and readers keen on meticulous details, the appendices provide a treasure trove of insights.

Glossary (optional)

In academics, specialized terminologies, and jargon are inevitable. However, not every reader is versed in every term.

The glossary, while optional, is a critical tool for accessibility. It's a bridge ensuring that even readers from outside the discipline can access, understand, and appreciate your work.

By defining complex terms and providing context, you're inviting a wider audience to engage with your research, enhancing its reach and impact.

Remember, while these components provide a structured framework, the essence of your thesis lies in the originality of your ideas, the rigor of your research, and the clarity of your presentation.

As you craft each section, keep your readers in mind, ensuring that your passion and dedication shine through every page.

Thesis examples

To further elucidate the concept of a thesis, here are illustrative examples from various fields:

Example 1 (History): Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the ‘Noble Savage’ on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807 by Suchait Kahlon.

Example 2 (Climate Dynamics): Influence of external forcings on abrupt millennial-scale climate changes: a statistical modelling study by Takahito Mitsui · Michel Crucifix

Checklist for your thesis evaluation

Evaluating your thesis ensures that your research meets the standards of academia. Here's an elaborate checklist to guide you through this critical process.

Content and structure

• Is the thesis statement clear, concise, and debatable?
• Does the introduction provide sufficient background and context?
• Is the literature review comprehensive, relevant, and well-organized?
• Does the methodology section clearly describe and justify the research methods?
• Are the results/findings presented clearly and logically?
• Does the discussion interpret the results in light of the research question and existing literature?
• Is the conclusion summarizing the research and suggesting future directions or implications?

Clarity and coherence

• Is the writing clear and free of jargon?
• Are ideas and sections logically connected and flowing?
• Is there a clear narrative or argument throughout the thesis?

Research quality

• Is the research question significant and relevant?
• Are the research methods appropriate for the question?
• Is the sample size (if applicable) adequate?
• Are the data analysis techniques appropriate and correctly applied?
• Are potential biases or limitations addressed?

Originality and significance

• Does the thesis contribute new knowledge or insights to the field?
• Is the research grounded in existing literature while offering fresh perspectives?

Formatting and presentation

• Is the thesis formatted according to institutional guidelines?
• Are figures, tables, and charts clear, labeled, and referenced in the text?
• Is the bibliography or reference list complete and consistently formatted?
• Are appendices relevant and appropriately referenced in the main text?

Grammar and language

• Is the thesis free of grammatical and spelling errors?
• Is the language professional, consistent, and appropriate for an academic audience?
• Are quotations and paraphrased material correctly cited?

Feedback and revision

• Have you sought feedback from peers, advisors, or experts in the field?
• Have you addressed the feedback and made the necessary revisions?

Overall assessment

• Does the thesis as a whole feel cohesive and comprehensive?
• Would the thesis be understandable and valuable to someone in your field?

Ensure to use this checklist to leave no ground for doubt or missed information in your thesis.

After writing your thesis, the next step is to discuss and defend your findings verbally in front of a knowledgeable panel. You’ve to be well prepared as your professors may grade your presentation abilities.

Preparing your thesis defense

A thesis defense, also known as "defending the thesis," is the culmination of a scholar's research journey. It's the final frontier, where you’ll present their findings and face scrutiny from a panel of experts.

Typically, the defense involves a public presentation where you’ll have to outline your study, followed by a question-and-answer session with a committee of experts. This committee assesses the validity, originality, and significance of the research.

The defense serves as a rite of passage for scholars. It's an opportunity to showcase expertise, address criticisms, and refine arguments. A successful defense not only validates the research but also establishes your authority as a researcher in your field.

Here’s how you can effectively prepare for your thesis defense .

Now, having touched upon the process of defending a thesis, it's worth noting that scholarly work can take various forms, depending on academic and regional practices.

One such form, often paralleled with the thesis, is the 'dissertation.' But what differentiates the two?

Dissertation vs. Thesis

Often used interchangeably in casual discourse, they refer to distinct research projects undertaken at different levels of higher education.

To the uninitiated, understanding their meaning might be elusive. So, let's demystify these terms and delve into their core differences.

Here's a table differentiating between the two.

Wrapping up

From understanding the foundational concept of a thesis to navigating its various components, differentiating it from a dissertation, and recognizing the importance of proper citation — this guide covers it all.

As scholars and readers, understanding these nuances not only aids in academic pursuits but also fosters a deeper appreciation for the relentless quest for knowledge that drives academia.

It’s important to remember that every thesis is a testament to curiosity, dedication, and the indomitable spirit of discovery.

Good luck with your thesis writing!

Frequently Asked Questions

A thesis typically ranges between 40-80 pages, but its length can vary based on the research topic, institution guidelines, and level of study.

A PhD thesis usually spans 200-300 pages, though this can vary based on the discipline, complexity of the research, and institutional requirements.

To identify a thesis topic, consider current trends in your field, gaps in existing literature, personal interests, and discussions with advisors or mentors. Additionally, reviewing related journals and conference proceedings can provide insights into potential areas of exploration.

The conceptual framework is often situated in the literature review or theoretical framework section of a thesis. It helps set the stage by providing the context, defining key concepts, and explaining the relationships between variables.

A thesis statement should be concise, clear, and specific. It should state the main argument or point of your research. Start by pinpointing the central question or issue your research addresses, then condense that into a single statement, ensuring it reflects the essence of your paper.

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Frequently asked questions

What is a thesis statement.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

Frequently asked questions: Writing an essay

For a stronger conclusion paragraph, avoid including:

• Important evidence or analysis that wasn’t mentioned in the main body
• Generic concluding phrases (e.g. “In conclusion…”)
• Weak statements that undermine your argument (e.g. “There are good points on both sides of this issue.”)

Your conclusion should leave the reader with a strong, decisive impression of your work.

Your essay’s conclusion should contain:

• A rephrased version of your overall thesis
• A brief review of the key points you made in the main body
• An indication of why your argument matters

The conclusion may also reflect on the broader implications of your argument, showing how your ideas could applied to other contexts or debates.

The conclusion paragraph of an essay is usually shorter than the introduction . As a rule, it shouldn’t take up more than 10–15% of the text.

An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.

Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.

The “hook” is the first sentence of your essay introduction . It should lead the reader into your essay, giving a sense of why it’s interesting.

To write a good hook, avoid overly broad statements or long, dense sentences. Try to start with something clear, concise and catchy that will spark your reader’s curiosity.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

• An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
• Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
• A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

Let’s say you’re writing a five-paragraph  essay about the environmental impacts of dietary choices. Here are three examples of topic sentences you could use for each of the three body paragraphs :

• Research has shown that the meat industry has severe environmental impacts.
• However, many plant-based foods are also produced in environmentally damaging ways.
• It’s important to consider not only what type of diet we eat, but where our food comes from and how it is produced.

Each of these sentences expresses one main idea – by listing them in order, we can see the overall structure of the essay at a glance. Each paragraph will expand on the topic sentence with relevant detail, evidence, and arguments.

The topic sentence usually comes at the very start of the paragraph .

However, sometimes you might start with a transition sentence to summarize what was discussed in previous paragraphs, followed by the topic sentence that expresses the focus of the current paragraph.

Topic sentences help keep your writing focused and guide the reader through your argument.

In an essay or paper , each paragraph should focus on a single idea. By stating the main idea in the topic sentence, you clarify what the paragraph is about for both yourself and your reader.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

• Ask a question about your topic .
• Write your initial answer.
• Develop your answer by including reasons.
• Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

An essay isn’t just a loose collection of facts and ideas. Instead, it should be centered on an overarching argument (summarized in your thesis statement ) that every part of the essay relates to.

The way you structure your essay is crucial to presenting your argument coherently. A well-structured essay helps your reader follow the logic of your ideas and understand your overall point.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

The vast majority of essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Almost all academic writing involves building up an argument, though other types of essay might be assigned in composition classes.

Essays can present arguments about all kinds of different topics. For example:

• In a literary analysis essay, you might make an argument for a specific interpretation of a text
• In a history essay, you might present an argument for the importance of a particular event
• In a politics essay, you might argue for the validity of a certain political theory

At high school and in composition classes at university, you’ll often be told to write a specific type of essay , but you might also just be given prompts.

Look for keywords in these prompts that suggest a certain approach: The word “explain” suggests you should write an expository essay , while the word “describe” implies a descriptive essay . An argumentative essay might be prompted with the word “assess” or “argue.”

In rhetorical analysis , a claim is something the author wants the audience to believe. A support is the evidence or appeal they use to convince the reader to believe the claim. A warrant is the (often implicit) assumption that links the support with the claim.

Logos appeals to the audience’s reason, building up logical arguments . Ethos appeals to the speaker’s status or authority, making the audience more likely to trust them. Pathos appeals to the emotions, trying to make the audience feel angry or sympathetic, for example.

Collectively, these three appeals are sometimes called the rhetorical triangle . They are central to rhetorical analysis , though a piece of rhetoric might not necessarily use all of them.

The term “text” in a rhetorical analysis essay refers to whatever object you’re analyzing. It’s frequently a piece of writing or a speech, but it doesn’t have to be. For example, you could also treat an advertisement or political cartoon as a text.

The goal of a rhetorical analysis is to explain the effect a piece of writing or oratory has on its audience, how successful it is, and the devices and appeals it uses to achieve its goals.

Unlike a standard argumentative essay , it’s less about taking a position on the arguments presented, and more about exploring how they are constructed.

You should try to follow your outline as you write your essay . However, if your ideas change or it becomes clear that your structure could be better, it’s okay to depart from your essay outline . Just make sure you know why you’re doing so.

If you have to hand in your essay outline , you may be given specific guidelines stating whether you have to use full sentences. If you’re not sure, ask your supervisor.

When writing an essay outline for yourself, the choice is yours. Some students find it helpful to write out their ideas in full sentences, while others prefer to summarize them in short phrases.

You will sometimes be asked to hand in an essay outline before you start writing your essay . Your supervisor wants to see that you have a clear idea of your structure so that writing will go smoothly.

Even when you do not have to hand it in, writing an essay outline is an important part of the writing process . It’s a good idea to write one (as informally as you like) to clarify your structure for yourself whenever you are working on an essay.

Comparisons in essays are generally structured in one of two ways:

• The alternating method, where you compare your subjects side by side according to one specific aspect at a time.
• The block method, where you cover each subject separately in its entirety.

It’s also possible to combine both methods, for example by writing a full paragraph on each of your topics and then a final paragraph contrasting the two according to a specific metric.

Your subjects might be very different or quite similar, but it’s important that there be meaningful grounds for comparison . You can probably describe many differences between a cat and a bicycle, but there isn’t really any connection between them to justify the comparison.

You’ll have to write a thesis statement explaining the central point you want to make in your essay , so be sure to know in advance what connects your subjects and makes them worth comparing.

Some essay prompts include the keywords “compare” and/or “contrast.” In these cases, an essay structured around comparing and contrasting is the appropriate response.

Comparing and contrasting is also a useful approach in all kinds of academic writing : You might compare different studies in a literature review , weigh up different arguments in an argumentative essay , or consider different theoretical approaches in a theoretical framework .

The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

If you’re not given a specific prompt for your descriptive essay , think about places and objects you know well, that you can think of interesting ways to describe, or that have strong personal significance for you.

The best kind of object for a descriptive essay is one specific enough that you can describe its particular features in detail—don’t choose something too vague or general.

If you’re not given much guidance on what your narrative essay should be about, consider the context and scope of the assignment. What kind of story is relevant, interesting, and possible to tell within the word count?

The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to reflect on a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

Don’t worry too much if your topic seems unoriginal. The point of a narrative essay is how you tell the story and the point you make with it, not the subject of the story itself.

Narrative essays are usually assigned as writing exercises at high school or in university composition classes. They may also form part of a university application.

When you are prompted to tell a story about your own life or experiences, a narrative essay is usually the right response.

The majority of the essays written at university are some sort of argumentative essay . Unless otherwise specified, you can assume that the goal of any essay you’re asked to write is argumentative: To convince the reader of your position using evidence and reasoning.

In composition classes you might be given assignments that specifically test your ability to write an argumentative essay. Look out for prompts including instructions like “argue,” “assess,” or “discuss” to see if this is the goal.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

An argumentative essay tends to be a longer essay involving independent research, and aims to make an original argument about a topic. Its thesis statement makes a contentious claim that must be supported in an objective, evidence-based way.

An expository essay also aims to be objective, but it doesn’t have to make an original argument. Rather, it aims to explain something (e.g., a process or idea) in a clear, concise way. Expository essays are often shorter assignments and rely less on research.

An expository essay is a common assignment in high-school and university composition classes. It might be assigned as coursework, in class, or as part of an exam.

Sometimes you might not be told explicitly to write an expository essay. Look out for prompts containing keywords like “explain” and “define.” An expository essay is usually the right response to these prompts.

An expository essay is a broad form that varies in length according to the scope of the assignment.

Expository essays are often assigned as a writing exercise or as part of an exam, in which case a five-paragraph essay of around 800 words may be appropriate.

You’ll usually be given guidelines regarding length; if you’re not sure, ask.

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Definition of loom

 (Entry 1 of 3)

Definition of loom  (Entry 2 of 3)

intransitive verb

Definition of loom  (Entry 3 of 3)

Examples of loom in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'loom.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Middle English lome tool, loom, from Old English gelōma tool; akin to Middle Dutch al lame tool

Verb and Noun (2)

origin unknown

15th century, in the meaning defined above

circa 1541, in the meaning defined at sense 1

1836, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing loom

• Jacquard loom

Dictionary Entries Near loom

Cite this entry.

“Loom.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loom. Accessed 1 Aug. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of loom.

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Kids Definition of loom  (Entry 2 of 2)

More from Merriam-Webster on loom

Nglish: Translation of loom for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of loom for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about loom

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Dictionary definition of looming

A state or act of appearing as a threatening or ominous presence, often accompanied by a sense of imminent danger or impending trouble. "The storm clouds were looming on the horizon, signaling an approaching tempest."

Detailed meaning of looming

It describes a situation or object that casts a shadow or hangs over someone or something, creating a sense of anxiety, uncertainty, or unease. The term " looming " is often used metaphorically to depict a forthcoming event or circumstance that is perceived as menacing, overwhelming, or significant in its impact. It evokes a sense of foreboding and can be associated with impending challenges, deadlines, or difficult decisions. The feeling of something looming can create a heightened state of anticipation and can influence the emotional and psychological well-being of individuals, as they grapple with the uncertainty and potential consequences of what lies ahead.

Example sentences containing looming

1. The deadline for the project was looming , causing stress among the team members. 2. The financial crisis had a looming effect on the stock market, causing investors to panic. 3. As the final exam approached, a sense of looming dread filled the students' minds. 4. The threat of layoffs was looming over the employees, creating a tense work environment. 5. The looming presence of the towering mountain range inspired a mix of awe and trepidation. 6. The dark figure standing at the end of the hallway sent a sense of looming terror through her.

History and etymology of looming

The noun ' looming ' draws its etymological roots from the Middle English word 'lumen,' which means 'to shine' or 'to appear dimly.' This Middle English term itself has connections to the Old English word 'lēoma,' signifying 'light' or 'radiance.' Over time, ' looming ' underwent a semantic shift, moving from the notion of something shining or appearing dimly to its modern usage, where it denotes the foreboding or threatening presence of something, often accompanied by a sense of imminent danger or trouble. This transformation in meaning reflects how, much like an approaching storm cloud that obscures the light, ' looming ' conveys the sense of an ominous and impending event or situation that casts a shadow over one's expectations or sense of security.

Quiz: Find the meaning of the noun looming :

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Further usage examples of looming

1. The looming decision weighed heavily on his mind, leaving him sleepless at night. 2. The prospect of an impending recession had a looming impact on consumer spending. 3. The specter of war loomed large, casting a shadow over diplomatic negotiations. 4. The unfinished tasks were a constant reminder of the looming workload. 5. The possibility of a natural disaster loomed in the wake of the earthquake aftershocks. 6. The company's impending reorganization created a sense of looming uncertainty among the employees. 7. The shadows from the tall buildings made the city streets feel like a place of looming danger. 8. The looming court case was a source of anxiety for the accused, unsure of the outcome. 9. The dark clouds on the horizon signaled a looming storm. 10. The deadline for the project is fast approaching, and a sense of looming pressure hangs in the air. 11. He couldn't shake the feeling of looming danger in the abandoned house. 12. The shadowy figure in the alley had a looming presence. 13. Economic uncertainty cast a looming shadow over the stock market. 14. The pending decision had a looming impact on their future. 15. The ominous castle on the hill had a looming , foreboding quality. 16. The investigation uncovered a looming threat to national security. 17. The mountain's towering peak had a looming and majestic presence. 18. His health issues created a looming concern for his loved ones. 19. The unresolved conflict created a sense of looming chaos in the office. 20. The pandemic's effects were a looming concern for public health. 21. The political unrest left a sense of looming instability in the region. 22. The impending exam had a looming , stressful influence on students. 23. The dark forest had an eerie, looming quality after sunset. 24. The uncertainty of the future cast a looming cloud over their plans. 25. The ominous warnings in the news painted a picture of looming disaster. 26. The mountain's treacherous terrain posed a looming challenge for climbers. 27. The looming deadline made the task even more daunting. 28. The looming threat of a cyberattack prompted increased security measures.

Quiz categories containing looming

Find the Synonym

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Same or Different?

Spelling Bee

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SAT 1 (Scholastic Assessment Test), Accidents and Unpredictability, Chasms and Carnage

forthcoming,imminent,impending,menacing,pending,threatening

impending, receding, distancing, retreating

eb68db_d75440a1b3564a6a965b3edcd62b6505.mp3

approaching,hanging,hovering,oncoming,overhanging,overshadowing

Paraphrasing a Thesis Statement

Learning objectives.

• Identify strategies to paraphrase a text’s thesis statement

We’ve discussed the fact that every piece of writing has a thesis statement , a sentence that captures the main idea of the text. Some are explicit –stated directly in the text itself. Others are implicit –implied by the content but not written in one distinct sentence.

You’ll remember that the “How to Identify a Thesis Statement” video offered advice for locating a text’s thesis statement. Remember when it asks you to write 1 or 2 sentences that summarize the text? When you write that summary, without looking at the text itself, you’ve actually paraphrased the thesis statement.

Review this process by re-watching the video here.

Click here to download a transcript for this video

Paraphrasing is a skill that asks you to capture the idea of a text, without using any of the same words. This is harder to do than it might first appear. Like advanced reading skills, it takes practice to do well.

As you paraphrase, keep the following tips in mind:

• Paraphrases are roughly the same length as the original text . If the thesis sentence is a medium-length sentence, your paraphrase will also be a medium-length sentence (though it doesn’t have to have exactly the same number of words).
• Paraphrases use entirely distinct wording from the original text . Common small words like “the” and “and” are perfectly acceptable, of course, but try to use completely different nouns and verbs. If needed, you can quote short snippets, 1-2 words, if you feel the precise words are necessary.
• Paraphrases keep the same meaning and tone as the original text . Make sure that anyone reading your paraphrase would understand the same thing, as if they had read the original text you paraphrased.
• Text: Paraphrasing a Thesis Statement. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• How to Identify the Thesis Statement. Authored by : Martha Ann Kennedy. Located at : https://youtu.be/di1cQgc1akg . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License

Higher tax rates, smaller child tax credit and other changes await as Trump tax cuts end

At the stroke of midnight Dec. 31, 2025, nearly every American will experience a tsunami of tax changes, tax professionals warn.

Major provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) expire then unless Congress extends them. If the TCJA provisions sunset, most everyone will be affected one way or another, they said. Tax brackets, income tax rates, child tax credit, state and local tax deductions, mortgage interest deductions and much more will literally change overnight.

The potential changes sound far away, but tax experts say people need to be aware and consider steps now to ensure they don’t face a host of tax surprises.

“It’s going to be the Super Bowl of tax law changes in less than 18 months,” said Mark Steber, chief tax information officer at tax preparer Jackson Hewitt. Changes in deductions and credits will affect people differently, but Steber said everyone’s “tax rates will be higher. That’s inarguable.”

Why are tax rates going up in 2026?

TCJA, which was initiated by President Donald Trump, lowered tax rates across the board and shifted the thresholds for several income tax brackets . Some people saw a bigger reduction than others, but pretty much everyone gained at least a little, tax experts said.

For example, a married couple whose total income minus deductions is $250,000 would have had a 33% tax rate in 2017, but only 24% in 2024. An individual making $39,000 in taxable income in 2017 would have had a top tax rate of 25% but just 12% in 2024. For those in the top tax bracket, the rate dropped to 37% from 39.6%.

If the provision isn’t renewed, tax rates revert to their 2017, pre-TCJA rates .

To pay less tax, Americans might consider taking advantage of the lower rates now by accelerating income into 2024 and 2025 if they can. For example, retirees may want to withdraw slightly more than their required minimum distribution in these years, said Nayan Lapsiwala, wealth management director at Aspiriant.

Others may consider a Roth conversion to save money by paying the lower tax rates now and no tax when they withdraw later from Roth accounts, he said.

Additionally, “you might reconsider the timing of deductions if you anticipate your tax rate will be higher,” said Evan Morgan, principal for tax advisory services at professional services firm Kaufman Rossin. “Defer deductibles like charitable contributions, retirement contributions” to lower your income starting in 2026.

Get used to itemizing again

The standard deduction, which reduces a person’s taxable income, basically doubled under Trump’s tax cuts, allowing many more to use it rather than itemize.

In tax year 2020, about 90% of tax filers claimed the standard deduction, up from about 70% in 2017, according to the left-leaning think tank Tax Policy Center.

Along with the increase in the standard deduction, TCJA eliminated the personal exemption, which was $4,050 per person. “The loss of personal exemptions offset some of the gain from higher standard deductions, but the net result was an increase in the taxable income threshold in 2018,” which helped people, Tax Policy Center said.

If this provision expires, the standard deduction will drop, personal exemptions resurface, and more people would itemize their taxes again, tax experts said.

Itemization means deductions become more valuable, and Americans will again have to keep receipts for charitable contributions and other deductible items in order to claim them, Lapsiwala said.  

Americans would also immediately feel the effects of the combination of higher tax rates and a lower standard deduction for tax year 2026 in their paychecks, said Andrew Lautz, associate director of nonprofit, center-leaning think tank Bipartisan Policy Center’s Economic Policy Program.

Withholding amounts are based on your expected income and the tax rate on that income and assumes you take the standard deduction, which will be lower if TCJA expires.

“People are going to be seeing a lot of higher tax withholding,” he said. “For some, it could be a $50 to $100 difference.”

What's better could change: Is it better to itemize or take standard deduction? Learn what's better when filing taxes

Child tax credit to shrink

TCJA eliminated the personal exemption for each dependent under age 17 but doubled the child tax credit to $2,000 per person, with a $1,700 refundable portion in 2024 phased in starting at $2,500 in earned income.

If Congress does nothing by the end of 2025, the child tax credit will revert back to $1,000 per child ages 16 years and under. It would be refundable and phased in starting at $3,000 of earned income.

Earlier this year, the Republican-controlled House passed a bill that would expand the child tax credit. It included a phased increase to the refundable portion for 2023, 2024, and 2025 and adjust the tax credit for inflation starting in 2024.

Work requirements would remain, but low-income families who don’t pay income taxes would get up to $1,800 refunded of the $2,000 per-child credit instead of the current $1,600. The amount would rise to $1,900 in 2024 and $2,000 in 2025.

The Senate never voted on the bill, and so the legislation died.

Work from home could win

Under TCJA, W-2 employees were no longer allowed to deduct job-related expenses that the company didn’t reimburse. If TCJA expires, that provision will return, which could benefit millions of Americans who work some portion of their work week at home.

The old rules, which would return, allowed W-2 workers to take tax deductions for a wide range of unreimbursed work-related expenses including mileage, home office supplies, union dues, uniforms, internet, telephone, magazine subscriptions and meals.

Home buyers may get a boost

Through 2025, you can deduct home mortgage interest only on the first $750,000 ($375,000 if married filing separately) of indebtedness.

If TCJA sunsets, the amount of mortgage interest you can deduct increases to $1 million ($500,000 if filing separately) of your mortgage.

Considering inflation, high home prices and interest rates, this “can have a significant impact” for house hunters, said Miklos Ringbauer, founder of accounting and tax strategy firm MiklosCPA.

Moving expense deduction returns

If you relocate for work, you’ll be able to deduct the costs from your taxes again if TCJA sunsets, Ringbauer said.

During TCJA years (2018-2025), you could deduct these costs on federal taxes only if you were in the military. If you weren’t and your company paid for relocation, it was considered compensation and added to your income that you would pay tax on, he said.

Alternative minimum tax could ensnare more people

Alternative minimum tax is a parallel tax system designed to ensure high-income individuals pay their fair share of taxes. High-income Americans calculate their tax obligations under regular tax rules and under AMT rules, which limit deductions, and then pay the higher amount owed.

TCJA included changes that made far fewer people subject to AMT. In 2018, the number of people who had to pay AMT fell to just 200,000 from more than 5 million in 2017, before TCJA , according to the Tax Policy Center.

If TCJA provisions expire, TCJA changes would be unwound and subject as many as 7 million people to AMT, experts said.

“People making $200,000 to $400,000 could be subject to AMT,” Lautz said, whereas under TCJA rules, basically only millionaires paid.

State and local tax deduction gets uncapped

Under TCJA, up to $10,000 of state and local taxes (SALT) paid could be deducted on federal income tax returns. If TCJA sunsets, the cap would be eliminated.

The deduction is particularly important for high-income individuals in high-tax states like California or New York. Before TCJA, 91% of the benefit of the SALT deduction was claimed by those with income above $100,000 and concentrated in six states: California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Pennsylvania, according to Tax Foundation, an international think tank.

“This is a big deal” from a budgetary standpoint, Lautz said.

If the cap were eliminated, it would cost $197 billion over fiscal years 2024-2033, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model.

If there isn't anything to pay for that, the deficit could widen, Lautz said. Ballooning deficits could slow economic and wage growth, some economists say.

Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected] and  subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter  for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday morning.  

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looming noun 2

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What does the noun looming mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun looming . See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

How common is the noun looming ?

How is the noun looming pronounced?

British english, where does the noun looming come from.

Earliest known use

The earliest known use of the noun looming is in the 1850s.

OED's only evidence for looming is from 1851, in the writing of L. D. B. Gordon.

looming is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: loom v. 1 , ‑ing suffix 1 .

Nearby entries

• loom, n.³ 1836–
• loom, adj. 1600–
• loom, v.¹ ?1549–
• loom, v.² 1605–
• loomed, adj. 1729–
• loomer, n. 1881–
• loomery, n. 1859–
• loom-flitter, n. a1657
• loom-house, n. 1819–
• looming, n.¹ 1627–
• looming, n.² 1851–
• looming, adj. 1855–
• loom-lace, n. 1689–
• loom-lord, n. 1870–
• loom-shed, n. 1835–
• loom-shop, n. 1835–
• loom-stance, n. 1876–
• loom-state, adj. 1961–
• loom-stead, n. 1869–
• loom-work, n. 1598–1634
• loon, n.¹ ?c1450–

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Meaning & use

Pronunciation, entry history for looming, n.².

looming, n.² was first published in 1903; not yet revised.

looming, n.² was last modified in June 2024.

Revision of the OED is a long-term project. Entries in oed.com which have not been revised may include:

• corrections and revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
• new senses, phrases, and quotations which have been added in subsequent print and online updates.

Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into looming, n.² in June 2024.

Earlier versions of this entry were published in:

OED First Edition (1903)

• Find out more

OED Second Edition (1989)

• View looming, vbl. n.² in OED Second Edition

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Factsheet for looming, n.², browse entry.

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A Nearly $3 Billion Shortfall in VA Benefits Is Looming. The Senate Has Proposed a Fix, But Time Is Running Out.

Seeking to avoid a disruption in veterans benefits payments later this year, a bipartisan group of senators has introduced a bill to fix a nearly $3 billion shortfall for disability and education benefits the Department of Veterans Affairs expects to face by October.

The movement in the Senate to shore up VA benefits accounts comes as VA Secretary Denis McDonough responded to a key House chairman's demand for more information on the budget shortfall by the lawmaker's deadline, but it's unclear whether that will be enough to stave off a subpoena.

Both developments revolve around a roughly $15 billion budget shortfall the VA told Congress earlier this month it now projects to face this year and next. The budget gap includes $2.9 billion for disability and education benefits this fiscal year and $12 billion for medical care next fiscal year.

Read Next: Indiana Staff Sergeant Identified as Marine Killed in Humvee Rollover During Training at Twentynine Palms

If Congress does not enact a fix to address the benefits funding gap by Sept. 20, "Compensation and pension payments to over 7 million veterans and survivors and readjustment benefit payments to over 500,000 individuals that are scheduled to be delivered on Oct. 1, 2024, are at risk," the department told Congress in a slideshow earlier this month that was obtained by Military.com.

As such, seven senators from both parties announced Monday afternoon they were introducing a bill to plug the hole in benefits funding.

"We fought to make the PACT Act law to expand the care and benefits millions of veterans earned when they served our country, and because of it, more veterans than ever are getting the care they deserve," Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said in a statement about introducing the bill. "We must ensure VA can continue to implement the PACT Act -- we can't deny the brave veterans who sacrificed to protect our country the benefits they earned, because VA doesn't have the resources."

In addition to Brown, the bill is sponsored by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, the leaders of Senate Appropriations Committee; Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., the leaders of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee; and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and John Boozman, R-Ark., the leaders of the Appropriations Committee's VA subcommittee.

VA officials have attributed the benefits funding shortfall largely to an increase in disability claims driven by the PACT Act, which expanded VA eligibility and benefits to millions of veterans exposed to toxins during their military service. The shortfall is also being caused by higher than expected usage of GI Bill benefits, VA officials have said.

That explanation has not sat well with some lawmakers, who maintain the VA should have anticipated the PACT Act-related increases.

"I am gravely concerned that the administration, both at VA and [the White House Office of Management and Budget] specifically, misled Congress for months about the state of affairs at VA and the level of resources that are actually needed to care for veterans and their survivors," Moran said at an Appropriations Committee meeting last week .

Still, he added, Congress has no choice but to act to ensure "veterans and survivors do not suffer."

House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., similarly accused the VA of "fiscal mismanagement" in a letter to McDonough about the shortfall earlier this month.

Bost's letter also demanded McDonough answer a slew of questions about the shortfall by this past Friday or else face "compulsory processes," as in a subpoena, to get information.

McDonough sent Bost a response by his Friday deadline in which he defended the department's previous budget estimates and reiterated its stance that the shortfall is a sign of the department's better-than-expected implementation of the PACT Act. The response also pledged to provide a briefing to committee staff on some additional details.

"As I testified to your committee in the spring, we thought the aggressive outreach we were conducting could result in our needing additional funding," McDonough wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Military.com. "I pledged then that, if we did end up needing additional funding, we would come forward. Accordingly, we look forward to working with you closely to address these needs in a way that ensures no veterans will be adversely impacted and that we can continue to deliver care and benefits to veterans at record rates."

While McDonough responded by Bost's deadline, a committee spokesperson told Military.com the panel is still reviewing the answers and so the prospect of a subpoena is not off the table yet.

Asked about the ongoing subpoena threat, VA spokesperson Terrence Hayes told Military.com on Tuesday that the department has "responded directly to Chairman Bost's letter, briefed his staff and will continue to exercise transparency in answering his questions."

While senators have taken an initial step to prevent a disruption in benefits, time is running short in the legislative calendar to act before the VA's Sept. 20 deadline. Senators are scheduled to leave town at the end of the week until Sept. 9, and the House has already left for its summer recess that goes until the same date. That leaves just two working weeks for Congress to approve a fix.

Another open question is how lawmakers will address the $12 billion shortfall in VA medical funding for fiscal 2025. Congress has yet to approve government funding for fiscal 2025, meaning lawmakers could still allocate more funding for VA medical accounts as part of the regular annual VA spending bill. But they also would have to reach a bipartisan agreement to ignore previously approved budget caps .

Asked at a news conference last week whether the VA has a workaround if Congress does not address the shortfalls, McDonough said that "the main thing we're focused on is getting this done."

"Obviously, it would be prudent for us to plan for that, but right now we're really focused on getting, in the first instance, this very straightforward fix for [the Veterans Benefits Administration] by the middle of September," he said. "We'll make sure that if, as we need contingency plans, we're talking about those so that we're informing veterans as well."

Related : VA Warns Congress that Benefits Payments Are at Risk Due to Projected $15 Billion Budget Shortfall

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As mortgage rate cuts loom, here's how much homebuyers could save

By Angelica Leicht

Edited By Matt Richardson

Updated on: July 31, 2024 / 1:58 PM EDT / CBS News

Thanks in large part to the elevated rate environment , the cost of buying a home has vastly increased over the last several years. In turn, more and more buyers have been priced out of the market — at least temporarily. After all, today's mortgage rates are over two times as high as they were during the pandemic when rates below 3% were available to many buyers. 

And when you add in the other complicating factors, like an uptick in home values and limited for-sale inventory in most markets, it's easy to see why so many people are opting to try and wait out the housing market . The high cost of buying a home means it's simply not feasible for many would-be buyers — especially those with limited budgets — to try and compete right now.

That could change soon, though. After a prolonged period of high interest rates aimed at curbing inflation , the Federal Reserve is now expected to cut rates soon , which could have a big impact on the cost of buying a home. But how much can homebuyers expect to save once those rate cuts happen? That's what we calculated below.

Don't wait for rates to drop to get started. Start comparing your top mortgage loan options now .

Mortgage rates, though not directly set by the Fed, tend to follow the federal funds rate closely. As such, when the Fed lowers its benchmark rate, mortgage rates typically decrease as well. 

Experts anticipate the first Fed rate cut to happen in September and are forecasting it to be a drop of about 0.25% . If inflation continues to improve, analysts expect to see cumulative Fed rate reductions of between 0.75% to 1% over the next 12 to 18 months. Should mortgage rates fall in a similar pattern — by 0.25% in September and by 0.75% to 1.0% over time — buying a home could get a lot cheaper. 

To illustrate the potential savings, let's consider a $398,000 mortgage — which is the average home price nationwide right now — under the different scenarios:

The cost at today's rates

• 30-year mortgage loan at 6.86%: The total interest paid over the life of the loan would be $541,812 and the total cost of the loan would be $939,812.

The cost after a potential 0.25% drop in September

• 30-year mortgage at 6.61%: The total interest paid over the life of the loan would be $518,017 and the total cost of the loan would be $916,017.
• Total savings: $23,795 over the life of the loan

The cost after a potential 0.50% cumulative drop

• 30-year mortgage at 6.36%:  The total interest paid over the life of the loan would be $494,476 and the total cost of the loan would be $892,476.
• Total savings:  $47,336 over the life of the loan

The cost after a potential 0.75% cumulative drop

• 30-year mortgage at 6.11%: The total interest paid over the life of the loan would be $471,195 and the total cost of the loan would be $869,195. 
• Total savings: $70,617 over the life of the loan

The cost after a potential 1.0% cumulative drop

• 30-year mortgage at 5.86%: The total interest paid over the life of the loan would be $448,182 and the total cost of the loan would be $846,182.
• Total savings: $93,630 over the life of the loan

It's important to note that these projections are based on current expectations and market conditions. The actual trajectory of rate cuts and their impact on mortgage rates may vary depending on economic factors and the Fed's decisions in the coming months.

Find out more about the top mortgage rates you may qualify for here .

The bottom line

As these calculations demonstrate, even a modest 0.25% rate cut could result in significant savings over the life of a mortgage loan . And the potential savings become even more substantial with larger rate reductions. For a 30-year mortgage, homebuyers could save over $93,000 in interest over the life of the loan if rates drop by 1%.

But while the prospect of future rate cuts is encouraging, taking proactive steps now can lead to significant savings regardless of how the market evolves. Even small differences in interest rates can translate to much lower costs on your mortgage, so putting in the work now to improve your credit, lower your debt-to-income ratio and find the right lender could also pay off. 

Angelica Leicht is senior editor for Managing Your Money, where she writes and edits articles on a range of personal finance topics. Angelica previously held editing roles at The Simple Dollar, Interest, HousingWire and other financial publications.

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Meaning of looming in English

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• at hand idiom
• be on the point of (doing) something idiom
• be ready to roll idiom
• in the air idiom
• in the pipeline idiom
• stare someone in the face idiom
• teeter on the brink/edge of something idiom

Translations of looming

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short for virtual actor: an image of an actor created by a computer, used for example in a computer game or instead of a real actor in some scenes of a film, etc.

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What Does Noble Corp’s Acquisition of Diamond Offshore Mean for the Industry?

The oil industry has been a hotbed of merger and acquisitions-M&A, activity over the last couple of years. I discussed this frenzy in an OilPrice article last fall as oil giants jockeyed for prime positions in U.S. shale plays to ensure their long-term survival. Up to now industry consolidation of this type has largely skipped over the oil service industry, but the recent announcement by Noble Corporation, (NYSE:NE) of the acquisition of Diamond Offshore, (NYSE: DO) brings momentum to the offshore drilling segment.

Recent stock price movement has been bullish with shares of Noble Corporation, gaining about 6% in recent trading. This is directionally a little hard to unpack given the sag in underlying commodity prices for the same period. Most oil-related equities have suffered as a result. Fears about Chinese oil demand have reared their heads for the last few days, raining doubt and frustration on investors in upstream-focused equities, and denting their portfolios. More quickly than most, the offshore drillers seem to be gaining back recent losses.

The Street remains bullish with 12 of 14 analysts rating it a buy. Price targets range from $47 to $67 and the median is $59, largely splitting the difference. NE missed EPS targets last quarter, coming in at $0.45 vs the $0.53 that had been expected. For Q-2 the magic number is $0.59, lowered over the prior three months from $0.73.

In this article we will revisit the overall thesis for a resurgence in offshore drilling and specifically what that might mean for NE.

Why do we drill offshore?

Let’s begin by stating the thesis for an uptick in offshore activity looming for 2025 and beyond. Quite simply, for the most part, 150 years or so into the oil age, and particularly in North America, most of the big onshore fields have been found. To replenish reserves companies like Chevron, (NYSE:CVX) and ExxonMobil, (NYSE:XOM), and a handful of other Super Major drillers, have had to go offshore to find fields that move the needle for them. A company like XOM, producing ~4 mm BOEPD is depleting their reserve base by ~1.2 bn BOE annually. They will have to find new supplies or find a new line of work. The consolidation phase of shale drillers is in its latter stages and companies that have been throwing money at shale-focused upstream operators are going to have to go back to drilling, or begin the long slide to oblivion. Offshore exploration is their best option.

It didn't take geologists long, once some initial suppositions had been confirmed about drilling the Gulf of Mexico in the late 1940s, to figure out that if you went into the bays, and the near shore deltas formed by the outflow waters of big rivers over the eons, and sank a bit a few thousand feet down, you had a reasonable chance of striking oil or gas. Or both. Flash forward to the modern day and imaging technology has advanced to the point where much of the guesswork has been taken out of the equation and offshore wells have a much higher success probability than they used to, and penetrate much deeper into the earth to tap much older geological sediments. Much of the current GoM activity, for example, is tapping Paleogene sediments that are as much as 65 million years old and occur at depths of ~35K feet below the mud line.

Finally offshore reservoirs, by the nature of their deposition often yield highly permeable (permeability is the mother's milk of oil production) structures with relatively low decline rates. This can cause often prolific flows of high quality crude, enabling quick payouts and long term cash flow. A compelling proposition for many. Big finds along the west side of the Atlantic margin-Guyana and Suriname in recent years, down in Brazil over the last few decades, and in an imaginative leap a few years back on the eastern margin of Atlantic-offshore West Africa have largely confirmed this notion.

Conveniently for NE, the only way to test theories about the existence and location of offshore oil deposits, is to rent a jackup, semi, or drillship and start turning to the right.

The thesis for NE

Present day Noble is the sum of several legacy drilling companies-Pacific Drilling in 2021, Maersk Drilling in 2022, and now Diamond Offshore-June, 2024 (subject to regulatory review). All in all, NE has an offshore fleet of 13 Jackups, 15 mostly 7g Drillships, and 3 semi-submersibles. Diamond Offshore will bring another 10 Deepwater rigs in a mix of 4 7g drillships and 6 semis. The slide below shows the company's post-acquisition footprint. One immediate advantage NE has over competitors is a lack of stacked iron. Most of their assets are turning to the right somewhere in the world, as opposed to rusting away in the oilfield boneyards of Singapore or the Canary Islands. As I've discussed in the past, it is very unlikely Gen 5 rigs will be reactivated, and the hurdles are getting higher for Gen 6 rigs that are cold-stacked.

With relatively little debt to service, thanks to wiping a bunch out in bankruptcy a few years ago, NE has positive cash flow. The DO deal will bring $2.1 bn in new backlog and brings new clients with relatively little overlap.

EverCore ISI analyst, James West was bullish on the deal, valued at $1.6 bn, cash-$600 mm, and stock-0.2316 shares of NE for each share of DO.

"We believe Noble's acquisition is highly strategic, and the addition of 12 offshore floaters is expected to strengthen the company's revenue and cash flow visibility through the long-duration offshore upcycle," Evercore ISI analyst James West writes.

The Super Major-NOC conundrum

I've pointed out XOM's problem already. The Law of Large numbers is just relentless. To goose their short-term production up a bit, they just spent ~$60 bn to buy ~715K BOEPD of daily output in the Pioneer Natural Resources acquisition.  That's almost $84K per flowing barrel!!  There are other ways of looking at that deal, and I was and am supportive of it. But, that's a lot of money on a unit basis! By comparison, the company just sanctioned the Whiptail subsea development, offshore Guyana for $12.7 bn. With 250k BOEPD expected daily output, that's a less heart-stopping $50K per flowing barrel.

Other major oil companies are worse. Javier Blas, an opinion columnist for Bloomberg just wrote a fairly scathing rebuke of BP. 

“For now, investors don’t have much clarity of what exactly the Auchincloss wants to do beyond the next few months. Will he continue letting oil production decline, or is he prepared to reverse course and greenlight multibillion-dollar investments in oil projects that would be controversial not only outside BP, but perhaps even among its board of directors?”

Recent news suggests that perhaps BP is altering course. The announcement on July 30th that they had taken an FID on the Kaskida Paleogene project puts another 80K BOEPD on track for 2029.

Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense under Reagan and Bush, once famously said, "You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time." I am reaching out a bit to tie this quote into our theme regarding oil companies needing to hire a bunch of rigs and start exploring for new reserves. But not hugely. The fact remains, that BP and others are not replacing their daily output with new discoveries by and large. And, that is an untenable situation for their long-term future.

Rystad published a note recently that pulls this scenario into sharp focus, taking down recoverable reserves estimates 52 bn barrels YoY, and a striking decline of 700 bn barrels since 2019. With their new estimate of 1,500 bn bbls of recoverable reserves at present, if nothing changes...we are in a bind 32 years from now.

The upshot of this section is that for self-preservation and the sake of global energy supplies in the not too distant future oil companies had better rent some rigs and drill baby, drill.

Q-1, and guidance

Contract drilling services revenue for the first quarter of 2024 totaled $612 million compared to $609 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, with the sequential increase driven by utilization. Marketed fleet utilization was 72% in the three months ended March 31, 2024, compared to 68% in the previous quarter. Contract drilling services costs for the first quarter of 2024 were $390 million, up from $374 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, with elevated contract preparation and mobilization expenses preceding several pending contract commencements. Net income decreased to $95 million in the first quarter of 2024, down from $150 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, and Adjusted EBITDA decreased to $183 million in the first quarter of 2024, down from $201 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Net cash provided by operating activities in the first quarter of 2024 was $129 million, capital expenditures were $167 million, and free cash flow (non-GAAP) was $(38) million.

Outlook for 2024

For the full year 2024, Noble is maintaining guidance as follows: Total revenue in a range of $2,550 to $2,700 million, Adjusted EBITDA in a range of $925 to $1,025 million, and capital additions (net of reimbursements) in a range of $400 to $440 million.

Company filings

Risks to our thesis

Long term-an undefined quantity for the purpose of this article, oil companies must pick up the pace. That's a given. The question remains when that will happen. Contracting hasn't been hitting the numbers that the industry thought it would a year or so ago. Noble CEO Robert Eifler reiterated a bullish outlook for the company in their Q-1 conference call, that if correct, diminishes this risk-

"Offshore drilling fundamentals, especially for high-spec floaters, remain supportive of a continuing multi-year uptrend in both day rates and average term duration, while near-term white space for lower-spec units persists as a 2024 headwind. Our outlook for an earnings and cash flow inflection in the second half of this year is well supported by several meaningful contract startups that are on schedule to commence over the next several months. As Noble progresses into this next stage of earnings growth, we will remain committed to returning the significant majority of free cash flow to shareholders via dividends and share repurchases."

It goes almost without saying that continued near-term recovery in the OSD sector is certainly dependent on Brent prices above $75.

Your takeaway

Many things are starting to go right in this sector. Day rates for 7g rigs are moving toward the $500K per day rate-ex ancillary services like Managed Pressure Drilling-MPD. Transocean, (NYSE:RIG) moved its stock the other day with the announcement of a new contract for the 8g Deepwater Atlas for two 20K psi wells at $580K per day and contingencies for two 20K psi completions at $650K per day. This is getting to be serious money and puts the 8g rigs on a path to generate serious revenue for RIG in the coming years. Thus far NE doesn't have any 8g rigs -and there is no business case for them to build any, the 20K market is pretty limited , but the new contracts for the two now floating around in the GoM, will put upward pressure on the 7g rigs, of which NE now has plenty.

NE is trading at a little over 8X EV/EBITDA and leads other competitors in this metric except for smaller competitor, Seadrill, (NYSE:SDRL).

Where does the stock go from here?

Q-3 EPS estimates are for $0.93 per share. That would imply an NTM EBITDA of $1.6-1.8 bn. To keep their multiple at 8X-ish, which as noted above is pretty reasonable in this cohort, the shares would have to rerate toward $100 per share well ahead of the analyst’s upper range. Risk-tolerant investors may find the company attractive at current levels.

By David Messler for Oilprice.com 

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This story originally appeared on Oilprice.com

'Make Bitcoin Great Again': Specter of Trump — and absence of Harris — hangs over annual crypto gathering

NASHVILLE — Charlene Brown arrived at the first full day of Bitcoin 2024 at the Music City Center convention complex with two signs in hand: “Orange Man Good” and “Bitcoin Don.” 

Similar symbols of a recent and sudden shift in the politics of bitcoin could be spotted elsewhere in the Nashville crowd. “Make Bitcoin Great Again” caps — not to mention knockoff “Make America Great Again” hats that eventually were seized by organizers for violating conference rules — dotted the convention hall as the year’s biggest bitcoin event got rolling. 

Brown, who publishes Tokens Magazine, a pro-cryptocurrency publication, was perhaps the most visibly pro-Trump bitcoin advocate at the Nashville confab.

“I love that we now have a president who supports Bitcoin,” said Brown, referring to former President Donald Trump. “Now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon,” she said. 

Interviews with others in attendance confirmed a clear, if less outwardly apparent, support of the former president. 

Bitcoin Conference, a long-running event centered around the most popular cryptocurrency, has taken on national significance virtually overnight thanks to Trump’s recent embrace of bitcoin. Starting Friday and running through the weekend, the schedule is dotted with GOP power players.

Trump is slated to deliver an address on Saturday, just weeks after he officially made supporting cryptocurrencies an official plank of the GOP’s platform . He will be preceded by one current and three prospective Republican elected officials: South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Pennsylvania Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, Nevada Senate candidate Sam Brown and Massachusetts Senate candidate John Deaton.  

Plenty of other high-profile Republicans are scheduled to speak, including former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Sens. Marsha Blackburn, Bill Hagerty and Cynthia Lummis. Representative Ro Khanna of California was the only high-profile Democrat on the agenda.  

The speaker list reflects the growing coterie of the crypto world and tech writ large that has taken a hard-right turn. Other prominent crypto investors now backing Trump include Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders of Gemini crypto exchange; and Elon Musk, a longtime crypto fan who has also begun aggressively backing the GOP candidate. 

The conference also welcomed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is making a third-party run for president. He pledged to build a reserve of 4 million bitcoins — worth about $272 billion as of Friday — if elected.

Some in the GOP have also floated building a U.S. bitcoin reserve, pitching it as akin to the government’s strategic reserves of oil and other precious commodities.

Silicon Valley was also instrumental in selecting JD Vance as Trump’s running mate; the Ohio Senator disclosed in 2021 that he owned $100,000-worth of bitcoin and has called crypto “one of the few sectors of our economy where conservatives and other free thinkers can operate without pressure from the social justice mob.”

The crypto crowd has historically been skeptical of politicians and institutions thanks in part to its origins among the cypherpunk community, which embraced the technology as a way to use the internet to embrace decentralization. But with the perception among many in the cryptocurrency community that the Biden administration has stifled the technology, convention attendees told NBC News that Trump would be a step in the right direction.

“With Trump, it’s not even that he’s necessarily pro-Bitcoin — it’s just that he’s going to be willing to allow it to even exist,” said Adam McBride, a crypto entrepreneur based in Costa Rica. McBride compared the current administration’s stance to being “held underwater, not allowing us to breathe.”

Trump, too, once kept the community at arms length, at one point saying he was “not a fan” of crypto.

But he signaled a sea change last month when he announced his support of the Bitcoin mining industry ; pledged to commute the sentence of the founder of the Silk Road online underground marketplace; and wrote his support of crypto in the GOP’s 2024 platform. 

“We will end Democrats’ unlawful and unAmerican Crypto crackdown and oppose the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency,” the platform document states, referring to discussion of creating a centralized digital token, an idea that has sparked vigorous opposition by crypto supporters. “We will defend the right to mine Bitcoin, and ensure every American has the right to self-custody of their Digital Assets, and transact free from Government Surveillance and Control,” the document reads. 

Crypto enthusiasts say Trump has said all the right things so far — but some conference attendees said they were still not ready to proclaim that crypto has gone fully MAGA.

Garett Curran, an associate at Qubic Labs, a Boston-based organization that supports blockchain and Web3 technology companies, said Trump’s appearance showed there was an opportunity to overturn the current regulatory posture of the U.S. government, which many in the crypto world see as overly restrictive.  

But he also mentioned the prospect of more positive overtures toward the community from Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, referring to recent remarks in Politico from Mark Cuban, who said people in the vice president’s orbit have signaled a greater openness to crypto. 

“The bitcoin community actually has power,” Curran said.  

And a handful of attendees said that despite Trump’s newfound embrace of crypto, they still could not in good conscience support him.  

Sarai Mora, a multimedia artist known as “Creatress” and who gave a live art performance at a nearby bar Thursday night, said that Trump’s other views remained antithetical to her own as a woman of Mexican descent.

“I’m hoping the female candidate wins — it’s time to try something new,” she said. “I’m not saying anyone’s perfect, but I think it’s time to try something different.”

Rob Wile is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist covering breaking business stories for NBCNews.com.

• Transcripts

BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (BXC) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

BlueLinx Holdings Inc. ( NYSE: BXC ) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call July 31, 2024 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Tom Morabito - IR Officer Shyam Reddy - President and CEO Andy Wamser - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Jeffrey Stevenson - Loop Capital Greg Palm - Craig-Hallum Capital Group Reuben Garner - The Benchmark Company Kurt Yinger - D.A. Davidson

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the BlueLinx Holdings Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode and today's call is being recorded. We will begin with opening remarks and introductions.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to your host, Investor Relations Officer, Tom Morabito. Please go ahead.

Tom Morabito

Thank you, operator, and welcome to the BlueLinx second quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining me on today's call is Shyam Reddy, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Andy Wamser, our Chief Financial Officer. At the end of today's prepared remarks, we will take questions.

Our second quarter news release and Form 10-Q were issued yesterday after the close of the market along with our webcast presentation, and these items are available in the Investors section of our website, bluelinxco.com. We encourage you to follow along with the detailed information on the slides during the webcast.

Today's discussion contains forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ significantly from those forward-looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties, including the risks described in our most recent SEC filings. Today's presentation includes certain non-GAAP and adjusted financial measures that we believe provide helpful contexts for investors evaluating our business. Reconciliations to the closest GAAP financial measures can be found in the appendix of our presentation.

Now I'll turn it over to Shyam.

Shyam Reddy

Thanks, Tom, and good morning, everyone.

Our second quarter 2024 results demonstrated solid gross margins of approximately 19% in our Specialty Products business despite the impact of continued price deflation relative to prior year comps. Volume growth in key specialty product categories such as millwork, engineered wood products, and siding helped offset declining lumber prices and weaker structural volumes during the quarter. I am proud of my teammates for their hard work to deliver these results in spite of challenging market conditions.

Before turning over to our second quarter results, I would like to note BlueLinx's 20th anniversary as a public company this year. While our origins date back to 1954 as a division of Georgia Pacific, we spent the last 20 years building the largest pure-play two-step building products distributor in the U.S.

In so doing, we are playing a vital role in the building products supply chain while providing an outstanding place to work for all of our associates. In fact, nearly 400 of our roughly 2,000 employees have been with us for more than 20 years, which is a testament to their commitment to BlueLinx. Many of our suppliers and our customers have been with us during that time as well, and for that loyalty, we are sincerely grateful.

Looking ahead, we have begun the initial work to modernize our business with new technology, with the first phase focused on re-architecting our data, launching an e-commerce solution, and implementing a world-class transportation management system. Subsequent phases will further enhance our operational and commercial capabilities. Our continued focus on modernizing the business with new technology will ultimately enable us to differentiate ourselves in the markets we serve so that we can accelerate our strategic profitable sales growth objectives.

We remain focused on growing our key specialty product categories at a higher rate than our structural product business so that our product mix shifts over time. We also continue to execute successfully on our local and national market strategies as evidenced by our expansion of product lines with key national accounts, our expansion of branded product lines into new geographic markets, and launches of new product lines, just to name a few. We also continue to explore and evaluate M&A and Greenfield's opportunities to expand our geographic reach and to support our specialty product sales growth initiatives.

Now, turning to our second quarter results, we generated net sales of $768 million and adjusted EBITDA of $34 million, 44.5% adjusted EBITDA margin. Adjusted net income was $15 million, or $1.68 per share. Specialty Products accounted for approximately 70% of net sales and about 85% of gross profits for the second quarter.

Specialty product revenues declined 6% year-over-year due to continued price deflation when compared to the prior year. However, our average specialty product prices through the first half of the year generally remained at the same level. We expect to see a reduced year-over-year impact from pricing as we move into 2025.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, we had solid volume growth in key specialty product categories such as millwork, engineered wood products, and siding. We also delivered solid gross margin performance of 19.3% in specialty products due to our continued focus on business and operational excellence.

Structural product revenues declined 7% due to lower lumber pricing as well as lower lumber panel volumes. The lower lumber prices are now at levels we have not seen in a few years. Panel prices, although better than last year, experienced an especially meaningful decline as well. For example, OSB prices fell 31% over the course of the quarter.

The contraction in lumber and panel prices put pressure on demand as customers kept their purchasing at minimal levels and on our gross margins, given the natural lag on inventory costs coming down. For the quarter, structural product margins came in at 7.9%. However, we are optimistic that pricing will stabilize and eventually improve as manufacturers adjust their supply and the oversupply of wood in the channel draws down.

At the same time, we believe that lower interest rates in the future will help fuel a more far-reaching industry recovery that is expected to create higher demand for structural products. On a positive note, and despite market challenges for structural products, our days of sales of inventory or DSI for lumber and panels remained consistent throughout the quarter due to our strategic management of structural product inventory.

Lastly, on the quarter, our financial position remained strong and our significant liquidity leaves us well-positioned to achieve our vision and execute on our growth strategy, as well as to maintain the flexibility to return capital to shareholders. During the second quarter, we repurchased $15 million in BlueLinx stock, bringing the total amount repurchased to over $120 million since the beginning of 2022, once again demonstrating our commitment to returning capital to shareholders.

Now, turning to our perspective on the broader housing and building products market. Earlier this year, industry sources indicated a renewed sense of optimism for the overall market, especially for the second half of 2024.

More recently, however, due to continued headwinds resulting from the Federal Reserve's positioning regarding rate cuts, low existing home turnover, and home affordability issues, just to name a few, any sort of significant rebound now appears to be pushed out into 2025. Mortgage rates are currently around 7% and although they are lower than the 8% peak last year, they are still well above the 20-year average and back to the levels last seen in the fall of 2023.

More importantly, they haven't stabilized, which is critical to accelerating repair and remodel activity and new housing starts, especially for the private builders. Also, many homeowners are in low-interest-rate mortgages, so although we expect interest rate cuts to initially jumpstart the housing recovery, we believe that sustained reductions in interest rates over time are necessary to continue the recovery.

Now, the U.S. housing market remains volatile, as reflected by June total housing starts coming in at an adjusted annual rate of $1.35 million, up 3% for May but still down 4.4% year-over-year. Seasonally adjusted single-family housing starts were at their lowest level since October 2023.

Large multi-family starts improved month-to-month, but were still down 23% year-over-year. In addition, after five months of sequential improvement, builders' confidence flattened out in April at 51 and dropped to 45 in May. It then dropped to 43 in June and 42 in July.

All of these drops reflect negative broad-based builder sentiment tied to anticipated building activity, which evidenced the volatile and uncertain market conditions we're currently in. Looking at the components, present sales condition was 47, down from 62 last July. Expected sales in the next six months was 48, down from 59 last July, and traffic of prospective buyers was 27, down from 40 last July.

Repair and remodel spending continues to be lower than the elevated levels of 2022 and 2023, years during which pull forward and expansive R&R occurred due to pandemic-related conditions driving more time in homes. Also, as interest rate increase impacts began accelerating in 2023, existing home sales sank to their lowest levels in 30 years, a phenomenon that has continued into 2024.

As a result, a significant amount of repair and remodel activity that occurs when families sell their homes and buy new homes isn't happening due to current anemic sales velocity dynamics. Also, as we have noted before, we believe that most of the single-family housing starts are being driven by the large public builders because they can use their size, their scale, and their balance sheet to buy down mortgage rates, offer more attractive deals to consumers and buy directly from manufacturers to support their production schedules.

Two-step distributors like BlueLinx, however, tend to correlate more closely with smaller and custom homebuilder activity and therefore do not participate as much in the large production builder market. We expect the single-family start trend to continue for the remainder of 2024. Although the near-term outlook remains uncertain and muted, we certainly believe in the long-term prospects of the housing and building products sector, which drives our growth strategy.

The substantial shortage of homes supported demographic shifts, aged housing stock, necessary repair and remodel activity, and high levels of home equity should continue to benefit the building products industry and BlueLinx in the years to come as interest rates and home prices come down.

Now, I'll turn it over to Andy who will provide more details on our financial results and our capital structure.

Andy Wamser

Thanks, Shyam, and good morning, everyone.

Let's first go through the consolidated highlights for the quarter. Overall, our Specialty Products business delivered strong gross margins despite the impact of price deflation. However, structural product margins were negatively impacted by contracting lumber and panel prices in the quarter, as well as challenges in the housing and building products industry affecting demand.

Net sales were $768 million, down 6% year-over-year. Total gross profit was $122 million and gross margin was 15.9%, down 70 basis points from the prior period. As we noted in our last call, first quarter 2024 results for specialty products reflected an estimated net benefit for import duty-related matters incurred in prior periods.

During the second quarter of 2024, the estimate was updated, resulting in an additional benefit of $2.7 million. We currently do not expect further material changes and estimates for future periods. More details on the matters are available in our 10-Q. SG&A was $89 million, up $1 million from last year's second quarter.

The increase was mainly due to higher technology expenses and legal expenses associated with the duty-related matters, partially offset by lower logistics costs and share-based compensation expense. Net income was $14 million, or $1.65 per share and adjusted net income was $15 million, or $1.68 per share.

Tax expense for the second quarter was $4.7 million, or 25%. For the third quarter of 2024, we anticipate our tax rate to be in the range of 24% to 28%. Adjusted EBITDA was $34 million, or 4.5% of net sales and includes the favorable duty-related matters. Not including these matters, adjusted EBITDA would have been $32 million, or 4.1% of net sales.

Turning now to second quarter results for specialty products. Net sales were $539 million, down 6% year-over-year. This decline was driven by price deflation across specialty products. As Shyam mentioned, given current market conditions, we expect to see a reduced year-over-year impact from pricing as we move into 2025.

Gross profit from specialty product sales was $104 million, down 4% year-over-year. Specialty gross margin was 19.3%, up 20 basis points from last year, primarily due to the duty-related item. Not including this benefit, specialty gross margins were still solid at 18.9% in the second quarter. Through the first four weeks of Q3, specialty products' gross margin was in the range of 18% to 19%, with sequential daily sales volumes slightly lower when compared to the second quarter of 2024 and higher than the equivalent period last year.

Now moving on to structural products, net sales were $229 million, down 7% compared to the prior year period. This decrease was primarily due to lower lumber pricing as well as lower lumber and panel volumes when compared to last year's levels. Gross profit from structural products was $18 million, a decrease of 33% year-over-year, and structural gross margin was 7.9%, down from 11% in the same period last year.

In the second quarter of 2024, average lumber prices were about $383 per thousand board feet and panel prices were about $599 per thousand square feet, a 6% decrease and nearly a 13% increase, respectively, compared to the averages in the second quarter of last year. Sequentially, comparing the second quarter of 2024 with the first quarter, lumber prices declined 5% and panels were down nearly 3%.

Through the first four weeks of Q3, structural products' gross margin was in the range of 8% to 9%, with daily sales volumes improving from the second quarter. Given the supply-demand dynamics in structural products, we would expect margins to be pressured through the end of the year.

Looking now at our balance sheet. Our liquidity remains excellent due to the strong execution of our strategic initiatives and effective management of working capital. At the end of the quarter, cash on hand was $491 million, an increase of $10 million from Q1, largely due to normal seasonal patterns in working capital. When considering our cash on hand and undrawn revolver capacity of approximately $346 million, available liquidity was $838 million at the end of the quarter.

Total debt, excluding our real property financing leases, was $348 million and net debt was a negative $143 million. Our net leverage ratio was a negative 0.9 times given our positive net cash position and we have no material outstanding debt maturities until 2029. Our balance sheet and liquidity remains strong and when combined with our solid EBITDA generation, we are well-positioned to support our strategic initiatives, including our digital transformation efforts.

These include investments in our highest return opportunities such as organic and inorganic growth initiatives and opportunistic share repurchases. Now moving on to working capital and free cash flow. During the second quarter, we generated operating cash flow of $36 million and free cash flow of $29 million, primarily driven by net income and improved working capital.

Turning now to capital allocation. During the quarter, we spent $6.5 million in CapEx, primarily to improve our distribution facilities and our fleet. We also entered into finance leases for $3 million for fleet upgrades as well. For 2024, we expect capital investments to be approximately $40 million, focusing on facility improvements, further upgrades to our fleet, and the technology improvements previously discussed.

As a reminder, our digital transformation will also have at least a $5 million impact on operating expenses this year related to software licenses, as well as increased headcount associated with this initiative. As Shyam mentioned, during the second quarter, we repurchased $15 million of stock and we had $76 million remaining at quarter end on our current repurchase authorization. We are committed to our share repurchase efforts and plan to remain opportunistic in the market.

Our guiding principles for capital allocation remain consistent. We intend to maintain a strong balance sheet, which enables us to invest in our business through economic cycles, pursue a disciplined M&A strategy, and expand our geographic footprint, as well as return capital to shareholders.

We also plan to maintain a long-term net leverage of 2 times or less. Overall, we are pleased with our specialty product results despite continued deflation, which were able to offset some industry-related challenges in structural products within an uncertain housing environment. Our strong balance sheet and our liquidity positions us well to execute on our strategy and continue to opportunistically return capital to shareholders.

Operator, we are now ready to take questions.

Question-and-Answer Session

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Jeffrey Stevenson with Loop Capital. Your line is open.

Jeffrey Stevenson

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions today. Could you provide any more color on the cadence for specialty products' volume growth as we move through the second quarter? In particular, did you see any volume pickup in June as weather became more favorable? And then also just wanted to touch on what's driving the sequential volume improvement at the start of the third quarter as well.

Sure. So when we think about the volumes, I'd say on a sequential basis, specialty is down probably low-single-digits, but we're seeing really good volumes on structural, so - and the structural volumes are up, I'd say, double digits, I would say, as we start the quarter. So the dynamic, at least as we think about volumes in Q3 is a little bit softer in specialty and certainly stronger on the structural.

Yes. And I would just add that the seasonality of the business contributes to the volume increases. If you recall, back in Q1, we had a very slow start to the year. We started to see some pickup and some lag, and then it picked up in Q2, and then we're seeing some continuation through the early days of Q3.

Got it. No, that's helpful. And then what was specialty products pricing in the second quarter? And how should we think about the cadence of segment year-over-year price deflation as we move through the back half? Could segment pricing get closer to flat by the fourth quarter or do you think year-over-year declines will spill in the early next year?

Yes. I mean - so we think about the, just say specialty sort of just gross profit, it was minus 6% in the quarter, so volumes were up single digits, so that would sort of imply that pricing was, I'd say, still high-single - high-to-mid-single-digit in terms of price deflation. So we would expect that deflation. In Shyam's comments and my comments, we mentioned that we'd expect to see improvement as we move into '25, but I'd still expect negative specialty pricing comps as we go into Q3 and Q4 as well.

Yes. So if you think about it, it's a simple supply-demand problem, right? We've got softness in the market. As I mentioned earlier, when we talked about builder sentiment, builder sentiment has had sequential drops throughout the quarter and we haven't seen any indication that will necessarily improve in a meaningful way. So I would expect deflation to generally be consistent and carry through until the early days of 2025.

Okay, no, that's helpful. And then just lastly, on the M&A pipeline for specialty bolt-on acquisitions, any update there and any progress on the new Greenfield initiatives as well?

Yes, so from an M&A standpoint, we have a robust pipeline of targets that we are actively talking to and discussions with or otherwise nurturing, and as I've said before, we're always looking for - we're specifically focused on opportunities that can help us - help support the strategy from a specialty, sales growth, geographic expansion, et cetera.

And until we have a meeting over the minds as it relates to valuation, which I think will become more and more the case the further removed we are from pandemic years, the more likely there will be an opportunity to announce another deal.

As it relates to - but it is part of our investment thesis in terms of growing the business and will be an incredibly important prong of the three-prong strategy. Moving on to the third prong, which is greenfields, we have a number of markets where we are - that we are actively exploring first and foremost with real estate evaluations, and in some cases, we have active real estate lease negotiations underway.

So more to come in the future, but it is an important priority of the company and will definitely be - will be part of the strategy over the coming years as we look to grow net sales and volumes in the consolidated business.

Great to hear. Thank you.

And your next question comes from the line of Greg Palm with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Your line is open.

Yes, thanks. Good morning, guys. I know you talked about sort of the - maybe the more the recovery shifting from second half to calendar '25, but just given what's happened to rates in the last few months and really last few weeks, how are those conversations recently progressing with customers in terms - I mean, are you seeing any green shoots? Are you seeing maybe better visibility into sort of that recovery happening? I'm just curious to get your thoughts.

Yes, so I would say that there's general agreement that the remainder of this year will kind of be soft, with '25 becoming the first year of meaningful recovery. But at the same time, we all recognize that an initial rate cut is good to jumpstart the housing recovery, but it will take subsequent rate cuts to quite frankly season the recovery and address the lock-in rates that we - the lock-in effect that we see from low interest rates or 30-year mortgage rates that many people have. Of course, as the interest rates come down, the home equity or the HELOC rates come down, which then will be a positive - will have a positive impact of repair and remodel activity.

But the point is, between the lock-in effect, affordability issues, and other drags, if you will, you need to see not only the first that we were all expecting to happen in September, but who knows, and then subsequent rate cuts in 2025 that I think will, quite frankly, accelerate the housing recovery and kick off a multi-year cycle.

But generally, from a customer standpoint, we're all in the same boat. There's a view that the remainder of the year will be a continuation of what we're seeing now with seasonality taking effect in Q4 and then things really starting to take off in '25.

Yes, that's helpful. And do you envision that recovery happening initially better within R&R or your new home construction customers, which I know are a little bit sort of different than maybe the publicly traded production builders that we all know about?

The third-party data - I mean, the third-party providers would suggest that the repair and remodel market will be kind of flat to a little bit up next year, and then, of course, single-family housing starts, we're all seeing that same data as well. But at the same time, it's - so that's all I have to go on. But intuitively speaking, if you see the rates rapidly come down and your cost of remodeling coming down as a result, it's possible that you might see some pull forward there.

But I think it's just going to take time for it to all really start kind of seasoning. So I'm not entirely sure what's going to come first, Greg, but that seems to be an easier pill to swallow than an expensive new construction.

And Greg, this is Andy, I'd say just one thing to add, as Shyam mentioned, maybe R&R could be relatively muted, maybe next year, maybe it's up low-single-digits, but single-family could be up mid, and then I think the big change that you're going to see next year, I think, which everyone would agree on, is that the multi-family should see a big improvement given the material drop off that we've had this year. So, we think '25 will certainly be a better year.

Yes, I do - And Greg, one last point on the repair remodel that could be a difference next year versus, let's say, this year is with the HELOC rates coming down. People might be more willing to do larger remodel projects than they were this year because up until now, you might do a kitchen, but you're just going to do your cabinet, and then you'll do your countertops next year, and so on. But next year folks may actually take on the bigger project if the rates come down.

Yes, okay. And - I mean, just in light of this sort of macro discussion, does this - and mostly, as you know, as a result of hopefully a looming recovery, I mean, does it change the timeline in terms of how aggressive you want to be in terms of, a, either implementing some of this technology, the digital initiative, and also the Greenfield activity, does that change your timeline in terms of what you want to accomplish before the recovery takes hold?

It doesn't change the timeline now per se, but I will say our timeline is based on the investment strategy and the cadence for it are such that we want to put ourselves in a position to participate in the ultimate cycle when it does begin because we do think it's a multi-year journey, right? And so at the end of the day, it's positioning ourselves for above market growth when the time comes.

As it relates to the digital transformation journey, we're in the early stages, and as we continue to progress to the extent, there are opportunities to accelerate that because we're moving faster than we would have expected, then obviously we would, we would take that into account.

But right now we're in the early stages, so we haven't really done enough yet for me to say one way or the other. But we are on schedule, and as it relates to the Greenfield strategy, we're also on schedule there. And look, after we do one, two, three, then I can then look, in an ideal world, I'd love to accelerate, but until we get started, it's hard to say definitively.

Yes, okay, fair enough. I will leave it there. Thanks.

Thanks, Greg.

And your next question comes from the line of Reuben Garner with The Benchmark Company. Your line is open.

Reuben Garner

Thanks. Good morning, everyone.

Good morning, Reuben.

Just one question. I had some technical difficulties, so I don't want to get repetitive. I was wondering if you could kind of update us on what your - how you're thinking about the balance between M&A opportunities, share repurchases, and the greenfield side. What kind of the economics look like relative to each other for each and do you have any kind of fix yet on what the kind of greenfield economics look like in terms of the cost to - the cost to expand, what the return profile is, and kind of the payback period?

Yes. So we're not yet in a position to provide specific details, although we expect to as we get the machine going. But I'll tell you from - as I'm thinking about M&A versus Greenfield and the characteristics of the investments made, that's not an either or right. There's not a trade-off. I mean, there are Greenfield opportunities we are actively pursuing in markets that have different drivers relative to potentially - to M&A - specifically M&A opportunities that we're exploring. And then I'll turn it over to Andy to talk about it from a capital allocation standpoint, how we think about that in the context of, let's say, share repurchases versus M&A and other investments we made.

Sure. So, I mean, at the end of the day, we always want to invest in the highest returning opportunities. But that being said, let's say, on the share repurchase, you saw us more active, certainly in the second quarter than we were in the first quarter. And as we've talked about previously, if you think about the last - the original first $100 million authorization, that took about seven quarters to execute from beginning to end. I'm not saying that that's going to be the same for this, but for this program that we're in the middle of, but I think that's a reasonable sort of, I would say, guidelines, if you will. We'll continue to be opportunistic on the share repurchase front. We have a very strong balance sheet where I think, frankly, we can afford, frankly, Greenfields M&A and share repurchase, and we'll continue to be balanced in terms of how we allocate.

One last point, just to add on the Greenfield, so just as a reminder to everyone, the CapEx requirements for BlueLinx, and in particular two-step distribution, are relatively low, especially when you compare to manufacturing and other types of businesses. So from a Greenfield standpoint, the initial CapEx investments, the working capital investments, et cetera, are relatively light.

You're generally - you've got to find the real estate, and even there you have some flexibility, you invest within the initial staffing requirements, which you ultimately grow into overtime, and then the working capital and equipment, et cetera, are relatively reasonable and you can mix and match between locations as well. So we feel pretty good about the investment thesis for greenfield, which is why it's so core to our strategy.

Okay. And I said I only have one, but I'm going to sneak in just one clarification question, and if you answered this already, I apologize, but I think you said that daily sales volumes were up sequentially, down in specialty, up in structural, that's kind of counter to what is normal, right? Like the third quarter is typically lower than the second on a volume perspective. It's kind of been difficult to gauge that the last handful of years with the commodity and other pricing moving so much. But I just wanted to kind of ask that question. Thanks.

That not necessarily, I mean, the second and third quarters are obviously the seasonal parts of the business, right, with first and fourth, if you throw out the proceeding years. But if you go back to historical norms, the second and third quarter, and typically the busy part of the - you've got people taking holiday, of course, and that sometimes leads to slowdowns in our industry, hunting season also sometimes has an impact.

But at the end of the day, the season will continue, quite frankly, up through the early part of November, and then after that, that's when you start having, whether it's the holiday period or whether starting to have an impact in certain markets more so than others.

Great. Thanks, guys. Good luck going forward.

Great, thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Kurt Yinger with D.A. Davidson. Your line is open.

Kurt Yinger

Great, thanks, and good morning, everyone. Not to beat a dead horse, but in terms of the commentary on kind of daily sales volume, Andy, in the prepared remarks, I thought I might have heard you say that volume, yes, down sequentially, Specialty was kind of up on a year-over-year basis, is that right, or did I mishear?

I mean, for the second quarter - if we kind of think about the second quarter, volumes were up, I'll call it, low-single-digits, but there's still the pricing sort of overhang. When you think about, for this quarter, but for Q3, in terms of what we're seeing, yes, it's up a little bit. Materialist specialty is up, but sequentially it's down low-single-digits. Sorry for the comparison or confusion between year-over-year and sequential.

Okay, got it. And you talked about the conversations you're having with customers and generally that people seem like they've kind of written off the back half of the year, we know where builder confidence is, I guess, could you talk to what that means in terms of what you're seeing from an overall kind of competitive environment and how that kind of ties into what you might expect to see in terms of specialty margins going forward?

Yes. So let me start. Of course, you're going to see the market be more competitive, although, at the same time, I would point out that our efforts around certain business and operational initiatives that we have underway allow us to compete more effectively.

So whether it be with respect to our centers of pricing and procurement excellence, or some of the work we're doing operationally to help support better than what they would otherwise be EBITDA margins, and then on the business excellence side, doing things that I think makes sense for the business to support solid gross margins as well.

So I feel like we have a good - and especially as we think about our inventory management, I've highlighted that before in the past, we're very strategic about managing our - especially our structural inventory, but even with respect to our specialty inventory, we've got aggressive turn day targets that we have all teams focused on throughout the year, with people not taking their eye off the ball. So that's how we generally deal with what's otherwise a very competitive market.

At the same time, as we think about growth, we talked about some highlights as it relates to millwork and EWP, but we've been very intentional about working with our existing suppliers and expanding product lines with them, which allows us to pick up more share or expanding our private-label. We just launched a CEDAR program under our private-label brand that is actually starting to bear fruit. We're expanding into new markets with LP and Huber and Allura.

And so as I think about both our private-label as well as our branded products, we're being very intentional about either expanding geographically, expanding the product lines within a specific supplier, and also with intentional efforts in multi-family international accounts like the home centers, even deepening or expanding our product mix within those channels in order to either gain share or otherwise grow the business and improve in what's otherwise a tough, challenging, soft or declining markets year-over-year, so that's how we're managing through it.

Yes, maybe just to add on this on the margin point. I mean, we still think specialty margins are going to hold in that 18% to 19%, that's consistent with where we've been. So we feel confident in that. There was a modest, I'd say, downshift, I'd say in the structural margins, and that's because of the deterioration you've seen in just, let's say, lumber and panel pricing that we've had over the last six weeks.

Our guide there is 8% to 9% and I think the expectation is, while we have - we're really fishing our inventory, we're low 20-day supply on the structural side, so we don't have maybe the same off-sized positions that others would have.

But that being said, that market, it feels heavy from a supply, and I think that's due to the expectations that a lot of the manufacturers are expecting a busier season this year, and there's this, I think, a lot of inventory in the channel, and that's why we're just being a little bit more prudent with where we think structural margins will be for the balance of the year.

We do think they will improve in '25 as that supply-demand dynamic becomes more, say, at a more, I guess, reasonable balance. But we do think it's going to be a little bit structural, be a little bit pressured for the balance of the year.

Well, also during the pandemic, there was so much demand, a lot of mills were put under construction, they came online in anticipation of continuation or the housing recovery starting early, and so that has also contributed to more wood being in the channel, which has obviously made the environment more competitive and depressed pricing.

Right. Okay, that all makes sense. And I mean, to your point, it feels like you've kind of proven out that high-teens specialty margins are kind of sustainable or can persist even in kind of this softer demand backdrop with more competitive activity. I guess if we look forward 18 months, and you were to kind of envision a blue sky scenario in terms of how those could inflect in a positive way, outside of volume, what do you think could potentially be some drivers of improvement?

Well, obviously - are you just talking about, I mean, if you're talking about margins in particular, continuing to be focused on value-added services and also improving on the delivery proposition whether it be continuous next-day delivery, job site delivery, obviously expanding within our cutting capabilities. So, for example, we have some markets where we've added saws to support local market dynamics and as a result have picked up share.

In others, we've expanded our capabilities within an existing distribution site, such as adding new buildings, which has given us the ability to expand within a particular specialty product category and drive, when I say expand, adding a new building, covered space, and basically generating more - putting the land to better use, if you will, to generate more gross profit per new square foot or overall square foot, which will allow us to grow our specialty sales.

So as a result of all that, we continue to shift the mix, and over time, as we continue to shift the mix, a greater percentage of our gross profit will come from those specialty sales, and then with the value-added services and the better value proposition around the delivery and other capabilities, the gross margin should hang in there. So that's how we compete.

Got it. Okay, thank you. And just lastly, you talked about the commodity side maybe being a little bit heavy from kind of an inventory perspective, are there any specialty product categories where you see inventory levels either in your own system or at the customer level that you feel may be a little bit elevated? And can you just talk to, I guess, the overall appetite from customers to kind of put inventory on the ground here heading into the fall?

Yes, Kurt, just to be clear on one point, we don't have - we have really efficient inventory right now in structural, so we're low-mid-20 day supply. I think in general, the channel is heavy, so I'm not going to - so when we look at specialty, I would say, when we look at our key categories, we don't see that there's heavy inventory in the system, so we don't see any sort of channel issues where we think that margin could be pressured on the specialty side. I was talking about the volume checks is more on the structural side in terms of just lumber and panels.

But to your point, or maybe this isn't exactly what you were asking, but we have, again, with the softness in the market and the temp of demand, we have seen less buildup in inventory with our customers than we would have otherwise expected, but when you combine that with how we manage our inventory and how we are very, very close to it at the highest levels, but even throughout the business, I think that's been one of our, quite frankly, our differentiators around managing or ensuring solid margins, if you will. And then, of course, in the declining market, minimizing the downside impact.

Right. Okay, well, appreciate all the color, guys. Good luck here in Q3.

Thanks, Kurt.

And there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Tom Morabito.

Thanks, Kayla. Thank you again for joining us today. And we look forward to speaking with you in late October as we share our third quarter 2024 results.

And this concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

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