A course in writing and critical appraisal of medical papers that uses statistics is described, and its relationship to the goal of better integrating scientific writing into the statistics curriculum is discussed. It is concluded that writing should play an increased role in statistical education and that this can best be accomplished by distributing exercises in writing and critical appraisal throughout the curriculum. Writing assignments, such as simulated practice in producing components of scientific papers and grants, should reflect students' likely uses of statistics.