The rules of punctuation are very important, especially in academic writing. Adding commas between two independent clauses will confuse readers and make your article very tired to read. On the other hand, a proper semicolon can add subtlety to any kind of writing.

Dashes (or, more precisely, "long dashes") are probably the most common punctuation marks. However, like a semicolon, it is not fully utilized in most writing. Its function is similar to comma, bracket or colon, but it will produce subtle different effects in each case.