Sample Paragraph Using Parenthetical Citations
(Based on the Modern Languages Association (MLA) Citation Style, 5th Ed.)  

Below is a paragraph created to reflect parenthetical citation for essays using Internet sources. Beneath the paragraph is a brief works cited list. The examples given are for Web pages with and without authors.

Three Mile Island Controversy

     There was a great deal of information and misinformation before, during, and after the 1979 nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Two years before the incident, citizens in the area warned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the reactor was “dangerously faulty” (No Author on Web page: use title or Web address and page/paragraph (¶) number: Three Mile Island Alert or http://www.tmia.com 1). It is sad, but not surprising, that the people living near Harrisburg were more concerned about the safety of the reactor than the NRC. Although United States government agencies should respond and be accountable to people, they are not always sensitive to the needs of individual citizens and their communities. Immediately after the incident, some public relations personnel and scientists would have had people believe that there was no cause for alarm. Later, however, scientists admitted: "We had a meltdown at Three Mile Island. Fifty percent of the core was destroyed or molten and something on the order of twenty tons of uranium found its way to the bottom head of the pressure vessel. That's a core meltdown. No question about it" (Corporate Author and page/paragraph (¶) number: Public Broadcasting System 1). The NRC and the people who lived in the area were lucky that no one was injured. Hopefully, the NRC learned from the incident, and this kind of near-disaster could not happen today. Dr. Tony Baratta, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, reported that the accident, the psychological terror of the people who lived in the area, and the ten-year clean up changed the way nuclear power is regulated in the United Stated and around the world (When you mentioned the author in your work, use the page number only: 1).

Works Cited

Note: All lines beyond the first line should be indented five spaces.