Abstract
This study examines the perceptions of Libyan EFL Masters’ students towards the strategy of paraphrasing in academic writing. It sheds light, particularly on the obstacles that students face during the paraphrasing process. Moreover, it explores the most frequent paraphrasing techniques implemented by students. The study involves 30 Libyan MA students studying in the Department of English. The research comprises a questionnaire to ascertain students’ challenges and perceptions of paraphrasing. It also includes a paraphrasing test in order to uncover the common paraphrasing techniques employed by students. The study discloses three main challenges: 1) unfamiliarity of vocabulary skills 2) deficient reading comprehension skills, and 3) changing the main ideas of the original text. Moreover, the results of the paraphrasing test reveal that the synonym-changing technique is dominantly used by all the participants. The study finally suggests that there is a discrepancy between the students’ perceptions of paraphrasing and their use of paraphrasing techniques.