FEBRUARY24_UNIKUM_WEB

REPORTAGE
A GLITCH IN THE MATRIX:
THE JASON DUNCAN CASE FILE
Photos:private
Adam Zawadzki
Writer
Unikum understands that 98pc of students accused
of plagiarism fail in their appeal awarding UiA the
unfortunate accolade of the university with highest rate
of plagiarism in Norway. One (former) student shares
his experience, still ongoing, more than one year on.
In early January last year, Jason Duncan walked into a meeting with
Professor Francis Schortgen, the lecturer of his Emerging Markets
module on the International Business – Master’s Programme in
English, for advice on how to cite and reference academic sources
for an upcoming assignment due the following month. It would
prove to be a fateful appointment whose repercussions are still in
motion.
Originally from the United States, Duncan had already attended
UiA before, as an international exchange student for the Autumn
2015 semester, from Oregon State University, graduating from that
institution the following year. Returning to Norway in Autumn
2022 as a full-degree student this time, his six-year career break
from tertiary education prompted him to seek advice on the
current academic writing requirements, since he understood
the second semester of his two-year master’s course, and those
thereafter, to be significantly more theoretically focused, unlike
the first which was more mathematical.
During the meeting, Professor Schortgen assured him that he
would undertake a professorial review of his work in advance of
the submission deadline. According to Duncan, at no point was the
reference management tool ‘kildekompasset’ (Citation Compass)
or the Library Digital Guidance Booking ever mentioned by
Professor Schortgen, Skrivastua or the UiA Library Support Desk.
Additionally, no links to the above citation guideline platform
(or any other) were present on Canvas or within the syllabus,
delivered online since Professor Schortgen was in South Korea at
the time.
While Duncan sourced some alternative citation checking tools
online, he was advised against using them by fellow students who
were aware of situations where these sites had published the work
of others without their knowledge, leading to (accidental) selfplagiarism.
In mid-February last year, Duncan submitted the first
draft of his examination paper for professorial review, uploading
the final draft to Inspera a few days later and in good time of the
deadline, after Professor Schortgen and five other peers provided
their comments. Says Duncan: ‘No feedback called into question
how I utilized my sources in text, and no recommendation was
made to a specific tool for citation or that I should check any
aspects related to my in-text references to sources.’
Jason Duncan was a student of MBA International
Business - In English
In early March, Duncan received a FAIL grade. Seeking clarification
as to whether Inspera had suffered a technical fault, as had
happened to one of his peers as a bachelor’s student, Professor
Schortgen, replying to Duncan via email, stated that while the
examination paper appeared to be of Grade A quality upon first
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