Another thing I use to do with papers is slant it toward whatever I was interested in. Have you read/seen the book, The Victorian Internet? https://www.amazon.com/Victorian-Internet-Remarkable-Nineteenth-line/dp/162040592X challenge yourself to figure out a way to present the material in a way that would interest other people like you :-)

But I understand your problem; even though I was a history major, so it should be up my alley, I had Parris Glendening (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parris_Glendening) as my Government and Politics professor at the University of Maryland back in the 1960's, got a "D" in the course from boredom and wouldn't vote for him for dog catcher! Sometimes you just grimace and bear it like you did. Give yourself credit, you did what needed to be done (whether you liked it or not :-)