SUMMARY
The primary objective of the present research was to test the hypothesis that despite being trained in academic writing for one semester, there remain gaps in Saudi undergraduate English Major students’ academic writing, especially pertaining to research essays. The secondary objective was to know how these students perceived academic writing. A mixed-methods empirical research using triangulation approach for results validation was conducted to identify gaps, if any, in students’ knowledge in academic writing and to ascertain their perception of research essay writing, involving twenty undergraduate English Major students as research participants. Test and interview were used as data collection instruments, and the obtained data were analysed statistically. The results show that Saudi university English Major students regard academic writing tough, and acknowledge that for them it is the weakest area of competence in English. They have only a basic idea of how to find suitable sources for their research topics, to review relevant literature to contextualize their study, and to prepare notes and references for the study. The study is very significant since it highlights a major area of university students’ weakness in studies and offers constructive suggestions. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.6.13