Amity MBA Plagiarism Report Requirements: What 85% Originality Really Means

Amity Online's MBA project guidelines require you to submit a plagiarism report acknowledging at least 85% originality alongside your full project report in Stage 2. For many students, '85% originality' sounds straightforward until they run their first check and see a 28% similarity score. This guide explains what the 85% threshold actually means, how to read a plagiarism report, what commonly inflates MBA project similarity, and how to reach the required standard before upload.

What 85% originality means at Amity

85% originality means no more than 15% of your document can match existing sources in the plagiarism database. Amity states this as a hard limit: if any report exceeds 15% plagiarism, it will be rejected and the student will undergo resubmission as per rules. There is no informal tolerance above 15%.

• Minimum originality required: 85%
• Maximum similarity allowed: 15%
• Plagiarism report must be uploaded with the full project in Stage 2
• Amity conducts an additional plagiarism check before evaluation
• The threshold applies to the full project report, not the extended abstract alone

How to read your plagiarism report

Most plagiarism tools display an overall similarity percentage plus a color-coded breakdown by source. Understanding each component helps you target revisions efficiently:

• Overall similarity percentage: the headline number Amity cares about—must be 15% or below
• Matched sources: lists websites, journals, and other student papers your text resembles
• Excluded bibliography: ensure your reference list is excluded if the tool allows—otherwise citations inflate similarity artificially
• Excluded quotes: properly marked direct quotations may be excludable depending on the tool
• Small matches vs large blocks: focus revision effort on long contiguous matches, not single common phrases

What counts toward the 15% limit

Not all matched text is treated equally by evaluators, but all of it counts toward the percentage unless properly excluded by the checking tool:

• Paraphrased content without citation—counts fully and is the most serious issue
• Direct quotes without quotation marks or page numbers—counts and may be flagged as poor practice
• Copied methodology descriptions from textbooks or prior projects
• Literature review passages taken from abstracts or online summaries
• Standard definitions of management theories without attribution
• Matched text from your own previously submitted extended abstract (self-plagiarism can count)
• Similarity to other students' uploaded projects in the database

Why MBA reports commonly exceed 15%

• Literature review copied or lightly paraphrased from journal abstracts
• Survey questionnaires copied from published studies without quotation marks
• Methodology sections using standard textbook language without attribution
• Multiple MBA students researching similar topics in the same industry
• Using online project samples or templates as writing bases
• Definitions of SWOT, Porter's Five Forces, or HR frameworks pasted from websites
• Relying on AI-generated text that reproduces common phrasing from training data

How to reach 85% originality before upload

1. 1Run a plagiarism check at least two weeks before your deadline—not the night before
2. 2Identify which sections contribute the most matched text; literature reviews are usually the culprit
3. 3Rewrite flagged passages by changing sentence structure and expressing ideas in your own words—do not just swap synonyms
4. 4Add proper in-text citations for every paraphrased idea, even when you have reworded completely
5. 5Use quotation marks and page numbers for necessary direct quotes
6. 6Replace generic methodology boilerplate with project-specific descriptions of your sample and instruments
7. 7Exclude bibliography and properly marked quotes if your tool supports it—then recheck
8. 8Re-run the check after each major revision until you are safely below 15%

What happens if you exceed 15%

If your MBA project report exceeds the 15% plagiarism limit, Amity rejects it. Rejection triggers the resubmission process with serious consequences:

• Project report not accepted for evaluation
• Mandatory resubmission of project documents per university rules
• Delay in degree completion—evaluation already takes four to six weeks after acceptance
• Risk of delinquency in academic completion
• Possible extension fees if resubmission pushes you past your program deadline

Amity also states that incomplete submissions may require resubmission of all project documents—not just the plagiarized sections. Treat plagiarism and missing documents with equal seriousness.

Choosing a credible pre-check tool

You submit your own plagiarism report at upload, but Amity conducts an additional check before evaluation. This means you cannot rely on a lenient pre-check tool that understates similarity. Use a reputable checker—institutional Turnitin access if available, or established alternatives—and compare results if unsure. Free online checkers often use smaller databases and may give misleadingly low scores.

Plagiarism report submission checklist

1. 1Overall similarity is 15% or below (85%+ originality)
2. 2Report is generated from the final version of your full project—not a draft
3. 3Report file is included in your Stage 2 upload alongside the project report
4. 4Guide and student certificates are also attached in Stage 2
5. 5You have kept a copy of the plagiarism report for your records

Professional plagiarism reduction support

If your MBA project similarity is stuck above 15% despite revisions, ReportLift's plagiarism reduction service identifies high-match sections, rewrites them with proper attribution, and helps you reach Amity's 85% originality threshold without losing your research argument or data integrity.