This study examines the effects of teaching paraphrasing skills to students of tertiary level on summary writing. Twenty two students of lower intermediate level of proficiency in English were used in the study. A piece of summary writing task requires critical thinking skills to produce effective and concise writing. The nature of the task is basically constructing a general conceptual framework from the analysis of the passage and synthesis of specific information of it. This study analyses perceptions of students when handling a summary writing and the awareness of their learning and thinking. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is used as a strategy to encourage independent thinking when doing summary writing in the classroom. The results from the study indicated that the skills did not help the students equally. Students’ perception of their confidence in their learning abilities and the task assigned may not accurately reflect the paraphrasing skills.