Academic Writing & Citations

APA Format Essentials

POPH 001: Introduction to Population Health

Why Citations Matter

Academic integrity

  • Give credit to original authors
  • Avoid plagiarism
  • Show depth of research
  • Allow readers to find sources

APA Style (7th edition)

  • Standard in health sciences
  • Two parts: in-text + reference list
  • Every citation needs both

Resource: apastyle.apa.org

In-Text Citations

Basic format: (Author, Year) or Author (Year)

Examples:

  • One author: (Smith, 2020) or Smith (2020) found that…
  • Two authors: (Jones & Lee, 2021)
  • Three or more: (Johnson et al., 2022)
  • Organization: (CDC, 2023)
  • Direct quote: (Smith, 2020, p. 45)

In a sentence:

Social determinants significantly impact health (Marmot & Wilkinson, 2006). As Wilkinson and Marmot (2003) noted, “The social and economic circumstances…profoundly affect their health” (p. 7).

Citing Journal Articles

Format: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume(Issue), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx

Example with DOI:

Braveman, P., & Gottlieb, L. (2014). The social determinants of health: It’s time to consider the causes of the causes. Public Health Reports, 129(Suppl. 2), 19-31. https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549141291S206

Example without DOI:

Williams, D. R., & Mohammed, S. A. (2013). Discrimination and racial disparities in health: Evidence and needed research. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 32(1), 20-47.

Note: - Italicize journal name and volume - Include DOI when available - Article title: Only capitalize first word and proper nouns

Citing Books

Entire book: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book (Edition). Publisher.

Marmot, M. (2015). The health gap: The challenge of an unequal world. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Edited book: Editor, E. E. (Ed.). (Year). Title of book (Edition). Publisher.

Berkman, L. F., Kawachi, I., & Glymour, M. M. (Eds.). (2014). Social epidemiology (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Chapter in edited book: Author, A. A. (Year). Chapter title. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Book title (pp. pages). Publisher.

Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. (2000). Evaluating the fundamental cause explanation for social disparities in health. In C. E. Bird, P. Conrad, & A. M. Fremont (Eds.), Handbook of medical sociology (pp. 33-46). Prentice Hall.

Note: Italicize book titles

Citing Websites

Format: Author/Organization. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Website Name. URL

or: Author/Organization. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL

When to include “Retrieved [date]”:

  • ✅ Content likely to change: data dashboards, wikis, live databases
  • ❌ Fixed content: published reports, archived pages, PDFs

Examples:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, August 15). Social determinants of health at CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/about/sdoh/index.html

World Health Organization. (2024). Global health observatory data repository. Retrieved February 16, 2026, from https://www.who.int/data/gho

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2023). County health rankings & roadmaps 2023. https://www.countyhealthrankings.org

Other Common Sources

Government report:

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). Communities in action: Pathways to health equity. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24624

Policy brief:

Kaiser Family Foundation. (2023, July). Key facts about the uninsured population. https://www.kff.org/uninsured/issue-brief/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population

Dataset:

University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. (2023). County health rankings & roadmaps 2023 [Data set]. https://www.countyhealthrankings.org

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey data. Retrieved February 16, 2026, from https://www.cdc.gov/brfss

Reference List Format

Formatting rules:

  • New page titled “References”
  • Alphabetical by author last name
  • Hanging indent (first line flush, others indented)
  • Double-spaced
  • Every in-text citation must appear here

Common mistakes:

  • ❌ Forgetting in-text citations
  • ❌ Using “Retrieved from” for everything
  • ❌ Missing DOI when available
  • ❌ Wrong capitalization
  • ❌ Sources in reference list not cited in text

Quick Reference

Source Format Example
Journal Author (Year). Title. Journal, Vol(Issue), pages. DOI Smith, J. (2020). Health equity. Am J Public Health, 110(5), 45-52. https://doi.org/xx
Book Author (Year). Title. Publisher. Jones, A. (2021). Population health. Oxford Press.
Chapter Author (Year). Chapter. In Editor (Ed.), Book (pp. x-x). Publisher. Lee, S. (2019). Determinants. In Kim (Ed.), Health (pp. 12-20). Press.
Website Organization (Year, Month Day). Title. URL CDC (2023, May 1). Data. https://cdc.gov/data
Website (updated) Org (Year). Title. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL WHO (2024). Data. Retrieved Feb 16, 2026, from https://who.int
Report Organization (Year). Report title. URL RWJF (2023). CHR report. https://rwjf.org/report

Bibliography Tools (Optional)

Reference managers help you:

  • Organize sources
  • Auto-generate citations
  • Switch citation styles
  • Build reference lists

Popular options:

  • Zotero (free)
  • Mendeley (free)
  • EndNote (paid)

These tools are optional

Most students format citations manually for this course.

If interested, explore: - www.zotero.org - Library workshops - Online tutorials

Manual formatting is fine!

POPH 001 | Spring 2026