The STOP and DARE persuasive writing strategy

Because teaching the ways of persuasive writing can be difficult—especially compared to informative or narrative writing—the STOP and DARE approach is an effective way to consider the nuances of an argument.

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What is the STOP and DARE writing strategy?

STOP is a mnemonic that stands for:

• S: Suspend judgement
• T: Take a side
• O: Organize ideas
• P: Plan more as you write

The argumentative and persuasive writing process begins with selecting a topic and deciding what approach to take, then helping the writer go through the factfinding and logical ordering of each detailed step.

• Suspend judgement: Before writing a single sentence, stop and pause to consider all viewpoints of a subject. Are there any angles you haven’t considered? This step is intended for you to delay forming an opinion until you’ve fully thought about both sides. Brainstorm the pros and cons of an argument’s different sides and write these down.
• Take a side: Once you’ve weighed these different sides, throw your support behind the idea that has the strongest evidence. Perhaps you may find a piece of evidence that changes the way you had initially approached a topic. Your goal is to sway the reader to agree with you, so the side with the most opportunities for persuasion will be stronger.
• Organize ideas: Narrow down your evidence to the strongest points that can argue your side. Outline your essay and its key points and refutations while deciding how much weight you plan to give each point, from most to least supportive. Place these in logical order. An essay will read well if, according to De La Paz, “the student begins with the side of the issue a student supports along with the ideas that substantiate it before raising an opposing argument and then refuting it with contrary viewpoints.”
• Plan more as you write: Once you begin putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), continue to plan out the persuasive essay while adding and editing key argumentative points. Be prepared to change, modify, and reorder topics on the fly as you lay the argument down.

Finishing the argumentative essay with DARE

DARE stands for:

• D: Develop your topic sentence
• A: Add supporting ideas
• R: Reject arguments for the other side
• E: End with a conclusion

While STOP is the ideation phase of an argumentative essay strategy, DARE relates to the writing process itself:

• Develop your topic sentence: The most important component to an essay is a strong topic sentence. This grounds your essay and its multiple viewpoints back to one thesis statement. You’ll determine whether you’re pro or con about the issue, based on the evidence you amassed in the STOP process.
• Add supporting ideas: Here, you’ll include the reasons and supporting ideas for the paper’s main argument, while also including examples that elaborate upon your reasons.
• Reject arguments for the other side: Cite the counter arguments that you’re facing with your viewpoint and refute them in logical, easily understood language.
• End with a conclusion: Bring your essay home with a well-planned conclusion. Reiterate your key points and sum up your argument in a way that reminds your reader why they should believe in you or take action on these arguments.

Overall, the STOP and DARE strategy is a reflection of self-regulated strategy development (SRSD), an educational approach that applies the techniques of skilled writers and essayists to young students. It’s especially effective to develop skills for self-learning where learners can build the confidence to communicate what they know and feel strongly about it in an effective manner.

Whether you’re writing an academic paper, arguing for a cause in a presentation, or studying in an organized manner, strategies like STOP and DARE can build lifelong skills.