I am a History/SS major and for an advanced writing class we have been assigned a 4-6 page persuasive research paper. I do not have to do a topic related to history, but because I am a History student, I would like to write something that would benefit me in my future career path. The problem I have is that the topics that I think I can write a good persuasive paper over are too broad. I asked about writing over the cause of the civil war and that was vetoed by my teacher. These are some of the ideas I've thought about, let me know if any of them sound interesting, overdone. impossible to persuade, or too broad. More suggestions would be great as well!
-If Hitler died in WW1 we would have still had WW2 due to a large degree of Nationalism (someone else would have risen to power - It might not have been as bad as it was, but there still would be a war)
-Who was Jack the Ripper?
-Was Queen Victoria actually heir, or was she a bastard child from her mother's lover?
-Civil Disobedience - right or wrong?
-Atlantis fact or just a good story?
Right now I'm leaning toward Atlantis or Jack... I know there are a million and one papers I could write, but I'm just getting a mental block.
You might find the comment here about forming narrow historical questions to be of use to you.
Persuading an audience to believe your answer for Atlantis or Jack's identity would be very problematic in 4-6 pages (though I would totally read those pieces). I think you're biting off a bit too much there. The Hitler piece probably has the most ammunition behind it to make a case in that page length requirement.