Sample Mla Formatted Paper (Page 4 of 8) in pdf

Sample MLA Formatted Paper

Daly 4

in their cars may tend to be more negligent (or prone to distrac-

tions of all kinds) than those who do not.

Some groups have argued that state traffic laws make

Daly counters an

opposing argument.

legislation regulating cell phone use unnecessary. Sadly, this is not

true. Laws on traffic safety vary from state to state, and drivers

distracted by cell phones can get off with light punishment even

when they cause fatal accidents. For example, although the mid-

shipman mentioned earlier was charged with vehicular manslaugh-

ter 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

Facts are docu-

mented with in-

killed Morgan Pena in Pennsylvania received two tickets and a $50

text citations:

authors’ names

fine--and retained his driving privileges (Pena). In Georgia, a

and page numbers

(if available) in

young woman distracted by her phone ran down and killed a two-

parentheses.

year-old; her sentence was ninety days in boot camp and five hun-

dred hours of community service (Ippolito J1). The families of the

victims are understandably distressed by laws that lead to such

light sentences.

When certain kinds of driver behavior are shown to be espe-

cially dangerous, we wisely draft special laws making them illegal

and imposing specific punishments. Running red lights, failing to

Daly uses an analogy

to justify passing a

stop for a school bus, and drunk driving are obvious examples;

special law.

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 pun-

ishments. Such laws have another important benefit: They leave no

ambiguity for drivers. Currently, drivers can tease themselves into

Source: Diana Hacker (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006).

Sample Mla Formatted Paper Page 4