Effective Paraphrasing

This is one way the student could have cited the source material correctly, via a footnote, and paraphrased rather than either inappropriately copying or even just quoting the original:

Student Writer's passage:

According to A.J. Duffield, prior to the arrival of European explorers, these islands provided a rich habitat for countless birds and marine species. The natural resources of the region enriched British settlers and provided a foundation on which an independent, democratic government could prosper.¹

¹ A.J. Duffield The Prospects of Peru London: Newman, 1881, p. 78.

Source passage, from A.J. Duffield The Prospects of Peru London: Newman, 1881, p. 78:

In ages which have no record these islands were the home of millions of happy birds, the resort of a hundred times more millions of fishes, sea lions, and other creatures whose names are not so common; the marine residence, in fact, of innumerable creatures predestined from the creation of the world to lay up a store of wealth for the British farmer, and a store of quite another sort for an immaculate Republican government.

Paraphrasing demonstrates that you have understood the source material and can restate it in your own words. You must cite and you should paraphrase sources rather than copy them.

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