The Em Dash Isn't Proof of AI-It's Proof You Know How to Write
A student walked into class, saw her essay projected on the board, and raised her hand when the professor asked who wrote it. He told her to see him after class. His verdict: the em dashes throughout her paper were "proof" she used AI. No detector needed-just punctuation.
She pushed back. Em dashes are part of her style. She brought research, sources, citations-the work behind the work. None of it mattered. He gave her a zero and she's now staring down a failing grade over something she says she didn't do.
Writers in the comments felt the same sting. "AI has ruined my writing style because I'm so scared to use em dashes now," one said. Another added, "We were taught em dashes and the Oxford comma for years… We're not using AI; we're educated." A third admitted, "I stopped using em dashes and only use commas… I'm not risking it."
Quick refresher: em dashes are standard craft
Em dashes create emphasis, mark interruptions, and can replace commas, colons, or parentheses. They're a staple of clear, expressive prose-taught in English classes for years and used by countless authors and editors.
If you need a citation to hand a skeptic, here's a straightforward reference on dashes from Purdue OWL: Dashes: Hyphen, En Dash, Em Dash.
The bigger issue: suspicion is replacing judgment
AI writing tools exist. So do false positives and shaky heuristics. Even major labs have noted accuracy problems with AI text detectors, and researchers have shown bias risks-especially for non-native English writers.
Two useful reads if you need receipts: OpenAI's note on the limits of text classifiers and discontinuation of one such tool, and Stanford HAI's study on detector bias against non-native writers: OpenAI on AI text classifiers and Stanford HAI on detector bias.
Practical safeguards for writers
If your craft is being second-guessed, here's how to protect your work-and your grade, by extension.
- Keep a visible writing trail: Draft in tools with version history (Google Docs, Word, Scrivener). Screenshots or exports of revision timelines help show how the piece evolved.
- Save your process artifacts: Outlines, notes, bibliographies, PDFs, highlights, and annotations. Consider archiving sources with the Wayback Machine.
- Maintain a dated portfolio: Collect prior writing (same voice, same punctuation habits) with timestamps. A consistent pattern beats a hunch.
- Annotate your draft: Add brief margin notes on why you made key choices-structure, evidence, style-so you can walk anyone through your decisions.
- Cite with care: Clean, consistent citations show the work behind the words. Sloppy sourcing raises more flags than an em dash ever will.
- If accused, ask for process-based review: Request the policy in writing, ask for specific evidence, and offer an oral defense or in-class rewrite. If stonewalled, escalate to the department chair or dean.
- If you use AI at all, disclose: Follow the stated policy, attach prompts/outputs, and explain edits. Transparency defuses suspicion more than denial does.
For educators and editors: better ways to vet work
- Evaluate the process, not just the product: Outlines, drafts, and sources reveal authorship more reliably than detectors or punctuation quirks.
- Use detectors as conversation starters, not verdicts: They can flag areas to review-never as sole proof.
- Be explicit about allowed AI use: Define boundaries, disclosure standards, and what "original" means in your context.
- Offer a fair appeal path: Oral defenses, timed rewrites, or supplemental assignments can resolve doubt without wrecking a student's record.
Don't trim your voice to fit someone else's fear
Writers adapt. But self-censoring punctuation to dodge guesswork is a tax on good craft. Keep your em dashes if they serve the sentence. Keep your process receipts so you can defend the work. Make it easy to prove what you already know-you wrote it.
Want to use AI responsibly without putting a target on your draft? Curate your toolkit and document your workflow. This roundup is a solid starting point for copywriters: AI tools for copywriting.
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