PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Healthy People 2030

How to Cite Healthy People 2030 in MLA 9

To cite a Healthy People 2030 page in MLA 9, start with the page title in quotation marks, because the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) both wrote the page and runs the site. Then give Healthy People 2030 in italics as the website, the URL without https://, and an access date, since the pages show no date. The in-text citation is the title, shortened to its first noun phrase: ("Social Determinants").

The format

"Title of the Page." Healthy People 2030, odphp.health.gov/healthypeople/.... Accessed Day Mon. Year.

PERRLA MLA Experts · Updated October 30, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Paste the Healthy People 2030 page's URL into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA knows the site: it fills in the title, the URL, and the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion as the group author, and it leaves the date empty because the pages have none. The lookup sets up the author and website the APA way, so make two changes for MLA. Take the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion out of the authors, so the entry starts with the title. Then change Website Name to Healthy People 2030.

Fill in Retrieval Date too (the Today button does it in one click). With no publication date on the page, the access date tells your reader when you saw it, and PERRLA writes it at the end of the entry the MLA way.

Adding one by hand? Choose Webpage, leave the author empty, and fill in the Page Title, Healthy People 2030 as the Website Name, the URL (Web address), and the Retrieval Date. PERRLA handles the title case, the date format, and the URL.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Start with the title

MLA has a rule for organizations: when the group that wrote a work also publishes it, skip the author and begin with the title. The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion writes the Healthy People 2030 pages and runs the site, so each entry starts with its page title.

The title goes in quotation marks and title case, with a period inside the closing quotation mark. Keep an objective's code, like HDS-05, when it's part of the title.

"Social Determinants of Health."

2. Website name

The website is the container, so its name goes in italics, followed by a comma. The site calls itself Healthy People 2030, in every page's title bar and header.

Healthy People 2030,

Healthy People 2030 is the name of the initiative and the site, not an author, so it never starts the entry.

3. No date

Healthy People 2030 pages don't show a publication or update date, so the entry has no date after the website. Go straight to the URL.

Don't use 2020, the year Healthy People 2030 launched: that dates the initiative, not the page. And the notice at the top of the site that mentions a 2025 date is about the website, not the page you're citing.

4. URL

Give the URL of the exact page, without https://, followed by a period. Healthy People 2030 lives at odphp.health.gov/healthypeople now. Older health.gov/healthypeople links still redirect there, but give the address the page has today.

odphp.health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants-health.

5. Access date

An access date is optional in MLA, but it's especially useful when a page has no date, and every Healthy People 2030 page is undated. It matters even more on objective pages, where the latest national data change as new numbers come in. Write Accessed and the date you viewed the page at the very end.

Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Examples

The social determinants of health page

The page with Healthy People's definition of social determinants of health and its five domains, a staple of nursing and public health papers. It starts with the title, gives the website in italics, and ends with an access date.

  • In-text citation("Social Determinants")
  • Narrative citationHealthy People 2030's page "Social Determinants of Health" groups these conditions into five domains ….

Quoting the health literacy definitions

Healthy People 2030's definitions of personal and organizational health literacy, often quoted in nursing and public health papers. The page has no page numbers, so the citation for a quote is the shortened title alone. MLA doesn't ask for a section name or a paragraph count you'd have to make up.

  • In-text citation("Health Literacy")
  • Narrative citationAs the Healthy People 2030 page "Health Literacy in Healthy People 2030" defines it, personal health literacy is ….

An objective page, citing its data

Objective HDS-05, on controlling high blood pressure in adults. The page shows the baseline, the target, and the most recent national data, and that last number changes when new data are released. The access date tells your reader which numbers you saw.

  • In-text citation("Increase Control")
  • Narrative citationHealthy People 2030 objective HDS-05, "Increase Control of High Blood Pressure in Adults," reports that ….

In-text citations

The in-text citation uses the first thing in the Works Cited entry, and every Healthy People 2030 entry starts with its title. The pages have no page numbers, so there's no number to add.

  • In parentheses: the title in quotation marks, shortened to its first noun and the words before it: ("Social Determinants") or ("Health Literacy").
  • Several Healthy People pages in one paper: each has its own entry and its own title, so the shortened titles already tell them apart. Make sure each one starts with the word its entry is alphabetized by.
  • A quote: the shortened title alone. Don't count paragraphs: MLA gives a number only when the source numbers its parts.
  • In your sentence: name Healthy People 2030 and the page title, and no parentheses are needed: Healthy People 2030's page "Social Determinants of Health" groups these conditions into five domains.

Write ODPHP in your own sentences once you've spelled it out if you like, but the citation itself uses the title, not the office.

Common mistakes

  • Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. "Social Determinants of Health." Healthy People 2030,"Social Determinants of Health." Healthy People 2030,ODPHP wrote the page and runs the site. MLA doesn't list an organization as the author of a work it also publishes, so the entry starts with the title.
  • Healthy People 2030. "Social Determinants of Health.""Social Determinants of Health." Healthy People 2030,Healthy People 2030 is the website, not the author. It goes in italics after the title.
  • … Healthy People 2030, 2020, odphp.health.gov/…… Healthy People 2030, odphp.health.gov/… Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.2020 is when the initiative launched, not the date of the page. An undated page gets no date and an access date at the end.
  • Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Social determinants of health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services."Social Determinants of Health." Healthy People 2030, odphp.health.gov/… Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.That's APA. MLA starts with the title in quotation marks and title case, gives the website in italics, and uses no n.d.
  • (ODPHP)("Social Determinants")Your reader finds the entry by its first word, and the entry starts with the title.

Quick checklist

  • The page title first, in quotation marks and title case, with any objective code
  • Healthy People 2030 in italics as the website
  • No date, never 2020
  • The current odphp.health.gov/healthypeople URL, without https://
  • Accessed and the date you viewed the page, at the end
  • In text: the shortened title in quotation marks, ("Social Determinants")

Questions students ask

Who is the author of Healthy People 2030 in MLA?

The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion wrote the pages, but it also runs the site, so MLA leaves it out of the author spot and starts with the title. Healthy People 2030 isn't the author either: it's the website, in italics after the title.

What date do I use for a Healthy People 2030 page?

None: the pages don't show a date for their content. Leave the date out and add an access date at the end instead, written day, month, year: Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Do I need an access date for Healthy People 2030?

MLA makes access dates optional, but this is the case they're made for: a page with no date, and on objective pages, numbers that change. Add one to every Healthy People 2030 entry.

How do I cite more than one Healthy People 2030 page?

Give each page its own Works Cited entry. Each starts with its own title, so the entries alphabetize by title and the in-text citations stay distinct: ("Social Determinants") and ("Health Literacy").

Can I use the site's Suggested citation box?

No. The suggested citation on the social determinants of health page is written for reusing the site's graphics, and it isn't in MLA format. Build the entry from its parts, the way the examples on this page show.

How do I cite the whole Healthy People 2030 website?

If you're citing the site as a whole, not a specific page, the website's name leads the entry, in italics: Healthy People 2030, then the home page URL and an access date. In PERRLA, choose Webpage, leave Page Title empty, and type Healthy People 2030 in Website Name. Once you use specific information, cite the page it's on.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (an organization that is both author and publisher, titles of works on websites, the website as container, works with no date, URLs, and access dates) and chapter 6 (in-text citations, unpaginated sources, and shortened titles), and the MLA Style Center pages "How do I cite a source that has no author?," the access-date answer, the answer on citing unpaginated works, and the answer on shortened titles. Example sources are the ones verified for the APA 7 page, re-opened on odphp.health.gov on October 27, 2026, to confirm each title, the site name in the title bar, the ODPHP footer credit, and that no page shows a publication or update date.

PERRLA builds Healthy People 2030 entries from the URL, with the title, the site, and your access date in MLA order.

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