Quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) measuring the energy transfer (E) and momentum exchange (Q) between a neutron and a sample target is often used to study hydration water in cement. A global model introducing a Q-independent elastic component, a Q-dependent elastic component, and a quasi-elastic component with explicit translational and rotational intermediate scattering functions has been developed to analyze the quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) spectra from water confined in cement pastes. To demonstrate the advantage of this model, it has been used to analyze four sets of cement data: calcium–silicate–hydrate (CSH), pure magnesium–silicate–hydrate (MSH), MSH with aluminum–silicate nanotubes (ASN), and MSH with carboxyl-functionalized ASN (ASN-COOH), previously studied with a much simpler model. It is shown that, with this new model, several important parameters that describe the structure of the cementitious materials can be extracted from the QENS data. Particularly, the structural water ...