Abstract
The present paper aims at investigating the obstacles and hurdles Libyan postgraduate students of English encounter in preparing their research proposals. The Data was collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews and drafts of proposals with supervisors’ comments. The findings revealed that students have serious different obstacles and hurdles in preparing their research proposals. Some of these obstacles and hurdles are related to academic writing, topic selection, searching, reading and synthesizing the literature about their topics, selecting research methods, and seeking support from supervisors. Keywords: postgraduate students,