In this discursive chapter, an argument is established for revisiting how the
undergraduate dissertation in the Arts & Humanities is placed within the whole of a
program in the light of changes to the nature of being an early career researcher.
Directed at academics, graduate teaching assistants and students, it provides the starting
point for a discussion about how to redesign dissertation processes in such a way that
students are enabled to play to their strongest researcher orientations. It does this by
reviewing the situation of the dissertation in the light of the research-teaching nexus,
changes to early career researcher discourses and experiences, and employability. It
establishes as a key concept the importance of researcher orientations (towards: the
theoretical, civic engagement, problem-solving policy, or anticipatory action and
innovation) in student learning within a research intensive environment, and reviews the
efficacy of the dissertation as an assessment type that materializes research-teaching
linkages. The chapter suggests ways for reconsidering the dissertation within a set of
pathways through the degree which plays to the researcher strengths of undergraduate
students.
Keywords: Arts & Humanities, assessment, civic engagement, discourse,
employability, orientations, research-teaching linkages, researcher orientations,
pathways, student as producer.