Alphabetical Entries: D
database one word
dates, days Follow guidelines under AP's dates and days of the week entries. When using the name of a day, set the date within commas: On Wednesday, Oct. 5, she will appear.... Use cardinal, not ordinal numbers: Oct. 5 (not Oct. 5th).
Dean's List Students who achieve a grade point average of 3.30 while taking courses totaling 12 or more credits in a single semester.
degrees See the academic degrees entry.
departments See the names entry.
directions and regions In general, lowercase north, south, northeast, northern, etc. when they indicate compass direction, but capitalize when they designate regions. Lowercase compass direction with names of nations, states and cities, but capitalize if they are part of a proper name: northern France, South Korea. Capitalize also when used as part of a widely known region: the Lower East Side of New York. When in doubt, lowercase compass direction.
disabled In general, do not describe an individual as disabled unless it is clearly pertinent to a story. If a description must be used, be as specific as possible. Avoid constructions that connote pity, such as afflicted with multiple sclerosis or suffering from multiple sclerosis. Rather, has multiple sclerosis. Disability is generally preferred to handicap. Blind, deaf and mute describe people with total loss of sight, hearing or speaking ability, respectively. For other cases, use more accurate terms like visually impaired or partial hearing loss. Avoid offensive terms like cripple and retarded.
disc/disk The preferred spelling for CDs and CD-ROMs (optical or laser-based media) is disc. Disk is preferred for floppy and hard drives (magnetic storage media).
diseases In official campus communications, avoid such expressions as: He is battling cancer. She is a stroke victim. Use neutral, precise descriptions: He has stomach cancer. She is a stroke patient.
doctor Use Dr. in the first reference as a formal title before the name of an individual who holds a doctor of medicine or veterinary medicine degree: Dr. Jonas Salk. If appropriate in the context, Dr. also may be used on first reference before the names of individuals who hold other types of doctoral degrees. However, because the public frequently identifies Dr. with only physicians, care should be taken to assure that the individual's specialty is stated in first or second reference. To avoid confusion, it is preferable to default to Professor before an individual's name, with the academic department in parentheses after the name. See doctor entry in the AP Stylebook.
