“Stress Tests for Free Speech” by Lincoln Caplan and “In the Age of Social Media, Expand the Reach of the First Amendment”

Prompt:
Before you read the two articles, read the prompt! This tells you what you are going to write about. It is important to follow the prompt and respond to all parts of the prompt in your essay. If you leave out a part or do not respond to the prompt at all, you will not do well on the exam.
The first part of the prompt gives you the titles, authors and the topic of both readings. This is important information that you will use in the introduction.
The second part of the prompt asks you to write a unified essay comparing and/or contrasting the authors’ perspectives on the topic. Look for specific points to write about in the second part of the prompt. Those points are there to help you write your essay. There are usually questions and you should incorporate the answers into your essays. The prompt will also ask what conclusions can be drawn about the topic? Use this question to help format your conclusion.
Be specific in your answer and use the texts to support your assertions. You should use relevant quotes from the texts to strengthen your arguments and include citations and references (these citations can be informal). For example, you may write (page#, author).
Introduction
It is important to include the titles of the readings and the author’s names in the introduction. You should also include the topic of the readings and the main ideas of both readings. You MUST include a thesis. The second part of the prompt will help you write a thesis. Usually, there are at least 3 points mentioned in the prompt that the authors write about. Use these points in your thesis sentence to show what you will compare and/or contrast. These points will be used in your body paragraph topics, too.

Should be 3 body paragraphs(point by point method):

Since one reading is longer than the other, it is easier to use the point by point method instead of the subject by subject method (you won’t have enough to write about in one paragraph for the second article if you use subject by subject). In other words, you will write about a topic for both readings in one paragraph.
Begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence. You will find the topics in the prompt. Use them! Focus on one topic for each body paragraph. Compare and/or contrast both authors’ perspectives on the topic. Include details from the readings, use quotes (and explain), summarize important points related to the topic and analyze what each author is saying about the topic.
End each body paragraph with a concluding sentence that ties BOTH readings together and restates your topic.

Conclusion:

Be sure to answer the question in the prompt about what conclusions the authors make about the topic. You should also restate your thesis and summarize each topic in a sentence or two. Your conclusion will not be short if your respond to all the parts.