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Research notes · Updated regularly

Writing that does not read as machine-written

Straight answers about the tells people actually notice: the dash habit, the vocabulary, the punctuation, the sentence rhythm. Every claim is labelled as evidence, inference or opinion.

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The complete list of tells

Seventeen structural habits, the punctuation set, and the vocabulary — in one place.

Do em dashes mean AI?

The evidence, the origin of the claim, and what the character can and cannot prove.

Free local checker

Paste a draft and count the patterns yourself. Nothing is uploaded.

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Detection5 min read

Is my writing AI? Check it with the free local AI-tell checker

Paste a draft and see every known AI-writing pattern it contains: dash density, overused vocabulary, punctuation and sentence-length uniformity. Nothing is uploaded.

Updated September 25, 2026

AI writing5 min read

Signs of AI writing: the complete list of tells

Seventeen structural tells, the vocabulary and punctuation patterns, plus the "giveaways" that are actually myths. Ordered by how much each one really proves.

Updated September 25, 2026

AI writing7 min read

Do em dashes mean AI? What the evidence actually says

Em dashes are the most quoted AI tell and the weakest single one. Where the claim came from, what it can and cannot prove, and when a dash really is a signal.

Updated September 25, 2026

Dashes5 min read

Why does ChatGPT use em dashes so much?

Training data, token economics and preference tuning all push the same way. Here is the mechanical reason ChatGPT reaches for the em dash, and why Claude does it too.

Updated September 25, 2026

AI writing5 min read

How to stop ChatGPT using em dashes

Prompts that actually work, the wording that does not, and the one step with no failure mode. Copy-paste instructions for ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.

Updated September 25, 2026

AI writing4 min read

Custom instructions that stop em dashes and make AI writing sound human

Ready-to-paste custom instructions for ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini: an em dash ban, a banned-word list, and the rules that fix the rhythm readers notice.

Updated September 25, 2026

AI writing4 min read

ChatGPT punctuation: the giveaways, the checker and the fixes

The dashes, ellipses, quotes and arrows that make a draft look machine-written, why most of them are weak signals, and how to strip them in one pass.

Updated September 25, 2026

Dashes4 min read

Does ChatGPT use too many hyphens?

ChatGPT hyphens compound modifiers correctly and far too often. The phrases it over-produces, when the hyphen is right, and how to cut the density safely.

Updated September 25, 2026

AI writing4 min read

AI words and punctuation to avoid: the full list

Every overused AI word, phrase template and punctuation tell, with the replacement to use instead. Maintained as one source, available as raw Markdown.

Updated September 25, 2026

Better writing5 min read

Em dashes in academic and formal writing

What APA, Chicago, MLA and Harvard actually say about em dashes, whether to space them, and how to handle the AI question in a submission with a policy.

Updated September 25, 2026

Detection6 min read

What to do if you are accused of using AI to write

The steps that actually resolve an AI accusation: your drafting record, your sources, and why arguing about punctuation never works.

Updated September 25, 2026

Detection5 min read

How accurate are AI detectors?

Vendors claim 98% accuracy and under 1% false positives. Independent testing tells a different story, especially for non-native English writers.

Updated September 25, 2026

Better writing5 min read

How to make AI writing sound human

Nine edits that change how AI-assisted writing reads, in order of how much difference they make. No humanizer tools, no promises about detectors.

Updated September 25, 2026

For agents and editors

The same catalogue as a raw Markdown file, ready to paste into CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or a Cursor rules file.

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