Persuasion

[Sekr Gray 520]

Ok, I'm not sure if this is even suitable for an actual thread, or rather a status. Either way, I just need some help real quick-like

 

For the last big essay of my college English class, we are to choose opposing viewpoints. Being the slightly edgy lad I am, I decided to talk about Hitler, and how he did so many good things for Germany, yet his name is pretty synonymous with evil, so far as most people are concerned. Lo and behold, I start doing the research, only to find that the sole database we are allowed to use has virtually nothing on him aside from the standard biographies.

 

I'm debating whether to just scrap the concept completely and switch to a new topic, or just ask the professor if I'm allowed to delve a little off the database to get some solid research that isn't being padded with filler information. Any idea for new topics, or should I just try to reach out with the professor's approval?

[gamecubeguy214 2,512]

Are you looking for information on the internet? If you can't find anything there, books are always an alternative if there happens to be any books about Hitler in your area.

[Daring_Do 552]

Whatever good he did is canceled out by the fact that he killed millions upon millions of people. But then, pointing that good out may help us realize something - Hitler and the Nazis, even though their crimes were horrific, were *human beings like us*. Maybe you, I and everyone here has the capability to slip that far. Consider, if it was just one guy he could just be a sociopath or something. Two guys, three guys, sure. But the entire Nazi Party was doing this inhuman stuff - All the concentration camp guards, etc... And the German people, despite what they like to pretend these days, were complicit. They can't *all* be mentally ill. That's a scary thing to face. Does that mean any one of us, given the power and the situation, could be just as sadistic, just as warped, just as *evil*?

Edited November 20, 2015 by Daring_Do

[MisterGunpowder 19]

I'll be honest, the moment a database (especially one that you're told you need to use solely) is failing to give you the information your need is the point where I'd recommend switching topics. I understand your desire, and to be honest I'm questioning your professor's insistence on using that one database, but if it's not giving you much of a starting point, let alone evidence, then switching to a topic with more information would be suitable.

That said, I think it's completely bizarre that this database has such little information on Hitler. If you insist on this path, perhaps try digging into articles about Nazi policy? Maybe tiny things like Hitler's love of animals? I imagine that so long as you meet the page limit and can back up your claims, you'll get a decent grade for the paper unless your teacher wacks you over the head for trying this.

It may indeed be prudent to talk to your professor about this topic to see if it's suitable for the class, as your professor might object to the subject matter for other reasons and that would be good to know before you hand in the paper for them to grade as they see fit. It'd be a terrible thing to hand in a paper and get your grade hit because your professor didn't like what you were trying to do.