BARE BONES ESSAY OUTLINE
What is your topic?
What is your thesis? (Claim or position on the topic) – One sentence
What are your key points? Use SCC – State the point; Cite a source; provide Commentary. This is just like
ACE, except you are not just restating the material you quoted. You must discuss how the citation furthers your
argument in support of your thesis.
Key Point 1
Key Point 2
Key Point 3
Key Point 4
Key Point 5
Concluding Sentence: What have you proven with your key points?
EXAMPLE
What is your topic?
The legalization of drugs
What is your thesis? (Claim or position on the topic) – One sentence
Legalizing drugs will reduce the financial and criminal burdens they place on America.
What are your key points? Use SCC – State the point; Cite a source; provide Commentary. This is just like
ACE, except you are not just restating the material you quoted. You must discuss how the citation furthers your
argument in support of your thesis.

Key Point 1
Legalizing drugs can be beneficial. Decriminalizing drugs will reduce government costs and raise tax
revenues (Ghosh, 2010). With the additional money generated from the sale of drugs, programs can be
put in place to help addicts.

Key Point 2
There is a great deal of money to be made. Miron and Waldock estimate that of that $41.3 billion in
savings, about $8.7 billion would result from the legalization of marijuana alone and $32.6 billion from
the legalization of other drugs, like cocaine and heroin. The drug industry is extremely profitable.

Key Point 3
States can benefit from drug legalization. California has thousands of (illegal) marijuana growers, and
the state government faces a budget shortfall of nearly $20-billion (Brown, 2020). Rather than spend
money fighting a drug war, the state could use the resources already in place to make up for its deficit.

Key Point 4
Criminals benefit from the illegal drug market. “By keeping marijuana illegal, we've allowed some very
dangerous and violent people to make a lot of money (Ghosh, 2010). If we decriminalize drugs, the
dealers and cartels would lose much of their business and the violence that results from these criminal
transactions would diminish.

Key Point 5
We know that drug decriminalization can work, because it has already been done. Portugal and other
countries have made all drugs legal and, as a result, have seen an extraordinary reduction in crime
(Time, 2018). Because there is no need to purchase drugs illegally, dealers and cartels do not control the
streets and drug users no longer have to succumb to their demands.
Concluding Sentence: What have you proven with your key points?
By legalizing drugs, states, rather than dealers, could profit and the reduction in crime would make our streets
safer.