Is it okay to post short research papers on this site (w/ footnotes & bibliography)?

Yes it is ok. Especially in hubpages for students. And again hubpages have provided tools for superscript and subscript characters.

You can get that done when you begin to create a new hub.

Thank you. I didn't know there were hubpages for students. That's good to know.

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.