So how do my fellow rogues deal with dragons? My assassin is mostly an archer type, but when she goes up against a dragon, bows seem to be good for tickling them and not much more. I have 59 in archery skill, have all the perks you can get with 59 archery skill, use poisons, and a few enchanted items that increase archery. But still I end up being forced to pull out my scimitar to deal with those oversized cliff racers.

Any tips on how archers can deal with them? Am I missing some trick?

Ya, your suppose to run... Archers or assassins historically haven't been made for head on assaults. I usually go to nearby towns to get support from the local guard... Lol there's no shame in hiding.. Well, unless your a nord... of course

Shoot the underside or the wings, i.e. go for the soft areas to do greater damage with a bow.

Shout at the dragon when its just about to shout at you to cancel out its attack. Good timing will give you a "free" attack turn if its in hover mode. If its on the deck, make use of scenery to block the breath attacks. Pop-up attacks work extremely well on grounded dragons, find a medium sized rock a wee distance away from the dragon and use it to hide behind and "pop-up" to fire off an arrow.

If the dragon is still mobile, when its landing and taking off its "locked in" to animations so you can attack it freely at that time. Poisons work well for enchanted items, such as weakness to fire poisons with a fire bow with a second shot doing further increased damage from the fires effect itself.

Or equip an amulet of talos and make use of become ethereal right before it uses Yol-toor-shul or Fo-kra-diin and you'll rarely get hit. Also, you should stay up on a mountain or large rock so for cover and so that the dragon can't get in too close and will be forced to rely on aerial combat.

Magic bows and poisons mostly. Fire breathing dragons are weak to frost, and vice versa. Also combine Imp Stool, Mora Tapinella and Red Mountain flower for an effective, long lasting damage health poison.

Resist element potions and running to survive their breaths. One word Become Ethereal is also an effective way to survive them.

Storm Call and Marked For Death also help.

I haven't even started the main quest yet, but am playing a Vampire Assassin with a high archery skill, yet quite low one-handed.

I THINK I would run towards a settlement, shooting arrows at the dragon to keep its attention and keep luring it along until I ran into some guards to help me!

I could one shot a Dragon with a backstab. It's not difficult. Arrows weren't difficult either to use, never really had to run.

I find that bows do MUCH more damage than swords. Perhaps upgrade your bow and arrows, or aim at their underside or something?