ABSTRACT
Arthur Noble Applebee was one of the pioneers in considering the relations of "Writing and Reasoning" and How Writing Shapes Thinking, as enshrined in the titles of two of his publications that were foundational for research into writing to learn and writing in the disciplines. Since the initial inquiries into disciplinary writing, Writing Studies has made substantial progress in understanding disciplinary genres and how they are located within historically emerged activity systems. This chapter examines a study of a year-long senior team design project completed by engineering students examines four iterative documents produced over the course of the year from the initial concept to final evaluation report, supplemented by work logs, reflective memos, interviews, and other course documents, as the four-person team develops a low-cost prosthetic foot for a clinic in Honduras. It shows how students build a picture of social and material realities that direct and constrain their design and then emerge as the substance of their built design.
