compare and contrast
NFG reading selection: Cullington, “Does Texting Affect Writing?” 87-94
Database reading selection: Amicucci, “‘How They Really Talk’: Two Students’ perspectives on Digital Literacies in the Writing Classroom”

For an essay of this type, you need to have as much control as possible over the content of each reading in the pair that you select. In other words, you need to comprehend (understand) each reading selection thoroughly. To achieve this high level of comprehension, you will probably need to read each selection several times, taking notes, marking up the selection, looking up unfamiliar words, and possibly doing some basic research related to information or terms that you don’t understand the first (or second) time that you read over your pair of articles.
Note: Since I am suggesting that you ‘mark up’ each reading selection in the process of getting a full grasp over its content, it probably makes sense to work with a print copy of each reading. Obviously, the NFG selection is available in print form in the book, but if you don’t want to mark up your book, then photocopy the reading selection. The database selection, meanwhile, can easily be printed out once you have it open in a program (like Adobe Reader) that can read pdf files.
Finally, as you think about the rough draft for this assignment, keep in mind the following about the final draft:
The final draft will be 1600-1800 words long .
You will be expected to use summary, paraphrase, and quotation as you talk about the content of each reading selection [We will do some work with summary, paraphrase, and quotation in Module 5 leading up to the final draft of MA2)
You’ll be expected to use MLA-style in-text citations in your final draft (but you will not be required to use full MLA-style formatting for the paper, nor will you need a Works Cited list). [We will do some work with MLA-style in-text citations in Module 5 leading up to the final draft of MA2.
You will not be allowed to use first person (I, me, my, mine, we, ours, us) or second person (you, your) in the final draft.
You’ll be expected to edit and proofread your final draft carefully.
Specific Requirements for the MA2 Rough Draft

To get credit for submitting the rough draft for MA2, your draft needs to do all the following:

be at least 900 words long (but not more than 1100 words).
discuss in reasonable detail both reading selections that you are comparing and contrasting
be organized (at least in a tentative manner) according to a recognizable comparison/contrast structure: block method, point-by-point method, or similarities-to-differences method
include at least two quoted passages (no more than two or so sentences for each passage) from each of the reading selections that you are comparing/contrasting
be word-processed (typed) [single-spacing is okay for the rough draft].