In an undergraduate program, you can start without any experience, but you would be well served to take an online programming class over the summer before you start college. Java is a good language to start with. Coursera and Code Academy have good classes.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.