Writing for Every Purpose

I am not sure that I am the best person to write for this topic. Since I have approached my education so non-sequentially, it is difficult for me to remember much of the writing I have done for classes other than English. I have vague recall of having a Biology class which had essay portions on the tests. The interesting thing about that is that I learned more about science in that class than at any other time. I think it has to do with the multi-layered approach to actually "knowing" something. In that class I was required to know the information for test as well as how to use it in the lab and finally I had to process that information well enough that I would be able to write intelligibly about it. Obviously the more levels that are appealed to in learning about anything, the better the student understands it.
There is another side to this, though, than simply having to write essays for tests. The expository writing that is at the center of most English classes can have a profound impact on the critical thinking skills that are required to succeed in any field. Any time a research project is assigned for a class, the students must spend time in all of the stages which are listed by Graham Wallas and referenced here through Erika Lindemann's text: preparation, incubation, illumination and verification. It does not really matter in what discipline these creative processes are honed as long as they are practiced. When a student realizes that they actually have the ability to expand on information and present it in coherent terms, their confidence is enhanced as well as their educational prospects.