Essay 2 Instructions: Using Logos, Ethos, and Pathos
Write a six-page essay in which you make the best argument you can on an issue.
Support your claim with three types of support: logos, ethos, and pathos.
Logos: use facts to establish the importance of your issue
Ethos: emphasize good-quality sources, authors with full names, good qualifications,
good websites
Pathos: include at least one real-life example that will move the reader
Type your essay in MLA format. Make it as meaningful as you can.
MLA Research Paper (Daly)
Daly 1
Angela Daly
Professor Chavez
English 101
14 March 2001
A Call to Action:
Title is centered.
Regulate Use of Cell Phones on the Road
oooooWhen a cell phone goes off in a classroom or
at a concert, we are irritated, but at least our
Opening
sentences catch
readers’ attention.
lives are not endangered. When we are on the road,
however, irresponsible cell phone users are more
than irritating: They are putting our lives at
risk. Many of us have witnessed drivers so distracted by dialing and chatting that they resemble
drunk drivers, weaving between lanes, for example,
or nearly running down pedestrians in crosswalks. A
number of bills to regulate use of cell phones on
the road have been introduced in state legislatures, and the time has come to push for their passage. Regulation is needed because drivers using
Thesis asserts
Angela Daly’s
main point.
phones are seriously impaired and because laws on
negligent and reckless driving are not sufficient
to punish offenders.
oooooNo one can deny that cell phones have caused
traffic deaths and injuries. Cell phones were im-
Daly uses a
clear topic
sentence.
plicated in three fatal accidents in November 1999
alone. Early in November, two-year-old Morgan Pena
was killed by a driver distracted by his cell
phone. Morgan’s mother, Patti Pena, reports that
Source: The Bedford Handbook (6th edition) by Diana Hacker (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002)
Signal phrase
names the author
of the quotation
to follow.
Daly 2
No page number is
available in the
quoted source.
the driver “ran a stop sign at 45 mph, broadsided
my vehicle and killed Morgan as she sat in her car
seat.” A week later, corrections officer Shannon
Smith, who was guarding prisoners by the side of
the road, was killed by a woman distracted by a
Author’s name is
given in parentheses; no page
number is
available.
phone call (Besthoff). On Thanksgiving weekend that
same month, John and Carole Hall were killed when a
Naval Academy midshipman crashed into their parked
car. The driver said in court that when he looked
up from the cell phone he was dialing, he was three
Author and page
number are given
when available.
feet from the car and had no time to stop (Stockwell B8).
oooooExpert testimony, public opinion, and even
Clear topic sentences, like this
one, are used
throughout the
paper.
cartoons suggest that driving while phoning is dangerous. Frances Bents, an expert on the relation
between cell phones and accidents, estimates that
between 450 and 1,000 crashes a year have some connection to cell phone use (Layton C9). In a survey
published by Farmers Insurance Group, 87% of those
polled said that cell phones affect a driver’s
ability, and 40% reported having close calls with
drivers distracted by phones. Many cartoons have
depicted the very real dangers of driving while
distracted (see Fig. 1 for an example).
Summary and
long quotation are
introduced with a
signal phrase naming the authors.
oooooScientific research confirms the dangers of
using phones while on the road. In 1997 an important study appeared in the New England Journal of
Medicine. The authors, Donald Redelmeier and Robert
Source: The Bedford Handbook (6th edition) by Diana Hacker (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002)
Daly 3
Fig. 1. Chan Lowe, cartoon, Washington Post 22
July 2000: A21.
Illustration has
figure number,
label, and source
information.
Tibshirani, studied 699 volunteers who made their
cell phone bills available in order to confirm
the times when they had placed calls. The participants agreed to report any nonfatal collision in
which they were involved. By comparing the time of
a collision with the phone records, the researchers assessed the dangers of driving while
phoning. Here are their results:
ooooooooooWe found that using a cellular telephone
was associated with a risk of having a
Source: The Bedford Handbook (6th edition) by Diana Hacker (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002)
Long quotation
is set off from the
text; quotation
marks are omitted.
Daly 4
oooooooooomotor vehicle collision that was about
four times as high as that among the same
drivers when they were not using their
cellular telephones. This relative risk
is similar to the hazard associated with
driving with a blood alcohol level at the
legal limit. (456)
In reports by news media, the latter claim was
exaggerated (“similar to” is not “equal to”), but
the comparison with drunk driving is startling
nonetheless.
oooooA 1998 study focused on Oklahoma, one of the
few states to keep records on fatal accidents inSummary begins
with a signal
phrase naming the
author and ends
with page numbers
in parentheses.
volving cell phones. Using police records, John M.
Violanti of the Rochester Institute of Technology
investigated the relation between traffic fatalities in Oklahoma and the use or presence of a cell
phone. He found a ninefold increase in the risk of
fatality if a phone was being used and a doubled
risk simply when a phone was present in a vehicle
(522-23). The latter statistic is interesting, for
it suggests that those who carry phones in their
cars may tend to be more negligent (or prone to
distractions of all kinds) than those who do not.
Daly counters
an opposing
argument.
oooooSome groups have argued that state traffic
laws make legislation regulating cell phone use unnecessary. Sadly, this is not true. Laws on traffic
safety vary from state to state, and drivers dis-
Source: The Bedford Handbook (6th edition) by Diana Hacker (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002)
Daly 5
tracted by cell phones can get off with light punishment even when they cause fatal accidents. For
example, although the midshipman mentioned earlier
was charged with vehicular manslaughter for the
deaths of John and Carole Hall, the judge was unable to issue a verdict of guilty. Under Maryland
law, he could only find the defendant guilty of
negligent driving and impose a $500 fine (Layton
C1). Such a light sentence is not unusual. The
driver who killed Morgan Lee Pena in Pennsylvania
received two tickets and a $50 fine--and retained
Facts are documented with in-text
citations: authors’
names and page
numbers (if available) in parentheses.
his driving privileges (Pena). In Georgia, a young
woman distracted by her phone ran down and killed a
two-year-old; her sentence was ninety days in boot
camp and five hundred hours of community service
(Ippolito J1). The families of the victims are understandably distressed by laws that lead to such
light sentences.
oooooWhen certain kinds of driver behavior are
shown to be especially dangerous, we wisely draft
special laws making them illegal and imposing specific punishments. Running red lights, failing to
stop for a school bus, and drunk driving are obvious examples; phoning in a moving vehicle should
be no exception. Unlike more general laws covering
negligent driving, specific laws leave little
ambiguity for law officers and for judges and
juries imposing punishments. Such laws have another
Source: The Bedford Handbook (6th edition) by Diana Hacker (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002)
Daly uses an analogy
to justify passing a
special law.
Daly 6
important benefit: They leave no ambiguity for
drivers. Currently, drivers can tease themselves
into thinking they are using their car phones responsibly because the definition of “negligent
driving” is vague.
Daly explains why
U.S. laws need to
be passed on the
state level.
oooooAs of December 2000, twenty countries were
restricting use of cell phones in moving vehicles
(Sundeen 8). In the United States, it is highly
unlikely that legislation could be passed on the national level, since traffic safety is considered a
state and local issue. To date, only a few counties
and towns have passed traffic laws restricting cell
phone use. For example, in Suffolk County, New
York, it is illegal for drivers to use a handheld
phone for anything but an emergency call while on
the road (Haughney A8). The first town to restrict
use of handheld phones was Brooklyn, Ohio (Layton
C9). Brooklyn, the first community in the country
to pass a seat belt law, has once again shown its
concern for traffic safety.
Transition helps
readers move
from one paragraph to the next.
oooooLaws passed by counties and towns have had
some effect, but it makes more sense to legislate
at the state level. Local laws are not likely to
have the impact of state laws, and keeping track of
a wide variety of local ordinances is confusing for
Daly cites an
indirect source:
words quoted in
another source.
drivers. Even a spokesperson for Verizon Wireless
has said that statewide bans are preferable to a
“crazy patchwork quilt of ordinances” (qtd. in
Source: The Bedford Handbook (6th edition) by Diana Hacker (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002)
Daly 7
Haughney A8). Unfortunately, although a number of
bills have been introduced in state legislatures,
as of early 2001 no state law seriously restricting use of the phones has passed--largely because
of effective lobbying from the wireless industry.
oooooDespite the claims of some lobbyists, tough
laws regulating phone use can make our roads safer.
Daly counters a
claim made by
some opponents.
In Japan, for example, accidents linked to cell
phones fell by 75% just a month after the country
prohibited using a handheld phone while driving
(Haughney A8). Research suggests and common sense
tells us that it is not possible to drive an automobile at high speeds, dial numbers, and carry on
conversations without significant risks. When such
behavior is regulated, obviously our roads will be
safer.
oooooBecause of mounting public awareness of the
dangers of drivers distracted by phones, state legislators must begin to take the problem seriously.
“It’s definitely an issue that is gaining steam
around the country,” says Matt Sundeen of the
National Conference of State Legislatures (qtd. in
Layton C9). Lon Anderson of the American Automobile
For variety
Daly places a
signal phrase after
a brief quotation.
Association agrees: “There is momentum building,”
he says, to pass laws (qtd. in Layton C9). The time
has come for states to adopt legislation restricting the use of cell phones in moving vehicles.
Source: The Bedford Handbook (6th edition) by Diana Hacker (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002)
The paper ends
with Daly’s stand
on the issue.
Daly 8
Works Cited
Heading is centered.
Besthoff, Len. “Cell Phone Use Increases Risk of
List is alphabetized by authors’
last name (or by
title when a work
has no author).
Accidents, but Users Willing to Take the
Risk.” WRAL Online. 11 Nov. 1999. 12 Jan. 2001
.
Farmers Insurance Group. “New Survey Shows Drivers
Have Had ‘Close Calls’ with Cell Phone
Users.” 8 May 2000. 12 Jan. 2001 .
First line of each
entry is at the
left margin; extra
lines are indented
1/2" (or five spaces).
Haughney, Christine. “Taking Phones Out of Drivers’
Hands.” Washington Post 5 Nov. 2000: A8.
Ippolito, Milo. “Driver’s Sentence Not Justice, Mom
Says.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution 25 Sept.
1999: J1.
Layton, Lyndsey. “Legislators Aiming to Disconnect
Motorists.” Washington Post 10 Dec. 2000: C1+.
Lowe, Chan. Cartoon. Washington Post 22 July 2000:
A21.
Double-spacing is
used throughout.
Pena, Patricia N. “Patti Pena’s Letter to Car
Talk.” Cars.com. Car Talk. 10 Jan. 2001
.
Redelmeier, Donald A., and Robert J. Tibshirani.
“Association between Cellular-Telephone Calls
and Motor Vehicle Collisions.” New England
Journal of Medicine 336 (1997): 453-58.
Source: The Bedford Handbook (6th edition) by Diana Hacker (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002)
Daly 9
Stockwell, Jamie. “Phone Use Faulted in Collision.” Washington Post 6 Dec. 2000: B1+.
Sundeen, Matt. “Cell Phones and Highway Safety:
2000 State Legislative Update.” Dec. 2000.
Natl. Conf. of State Legislatures. 27 Feb.
2001 .
Violanti, John M. “Cellular Phones and Fatal
Traffic Collisions.” Accident Analysis and
Prevention 30 (1998): 519-24.
Source: The Bedford Handbook (6th edition) by Diana Hacker (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002)
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