I'm writing an essay. -Everything is fully cited. -I've altered the word choice and sentence structures. -I've used quotation marks for wherever I restated something verbatim. -From most of the sources, I present paragraphs that organize information in the same order. I generally have at least a few paragraphs for each source. But I don't know how else to organize my information in a way that is articulate and coherent. Any advice on this would be appreciated.
It doesn't sound like plagiarism, but try to vary your paragraph structuring.. or at least make it more intriguing for the reader. Make your own evocative statements (if this is an argumentative essay?), and build your sources around them. I know if I read 4 paragraphs with identical structure I would get pretty bored of it.
If you are going to copy something from a text, you should only paraphrase it if paraphrasing helps you make your point more clearly. And even then, you should reference the paraphrased material the same way you would a direct quote. As for organizing information in the same way as your sources, that isn't necessary. If doing so helps you make your point more coherently then go for it, but there is no rule saying that you should or shouldn't do it this way. Hope that helps