Academic writing, which allows scientific research to be shared with other researchers, has an important place in graduate education because individuals at this stage of education gain experience in their fields with their academic writing experiences and are referred to as field experts when their education has been completed. At this point, graduate students' perception of academic writing and their experiences in this process are seen as an important element. The purpose of the current study is to examine graduate students' perceptions of the academic writing process and its problems. To this end, a phenomenological study design was adopted, with a purposive sampling to obtain participants for the study. Nine students who were attending a state university in Turkey volunteered to participate. Using a content analysis approach, perceptions of academic writing and the problems experienced in academic writing were derived from the responses to the interview questions. Results showed that graduate students' perceptions of academic writing fitted into five sub-themes: grammar, process, product, form and content. Problems experienced in academic writing were grouped under five sub-themes: text, mistake, competence, support and place of publication. In light of these findings, suggestions are offered about improving the acquisition of academic writing skills and confidence.