Academic English reading is among the literacies that many students using English as an additional language may need to change in order to meet new demands when they enter a new context of higher education. Academic reading in English involves more than studying in an additional language. Students must also learn and use new academic reading practices of a particular discipline. Drawing on the theoretical lenses of academic literacies and agency, this study presents novel reading strategies that six graduate students for whom English is an additional language at a U.S. university developed to achieve their goals in a graduate course. The study used a qualitative methodology involving data collected through classroom observations of the graduate course over one semester; interviews with each of the six focal students; and the collection of course documents and student written assignments. Results from the study may prove useful to higher education instructors.