Alex showed me the two paragraphs he had drafted of his research paper. His revisions tracked our discussions of last week, and I made edits and comments. We then discussed and further mapped out the rest of the research paper tracing events leading up to the decision of President Truman to drop the atom bomb on Japan. I suggested Alex add material about the initial use of conventional weapons in Japan which failed to produce a surrender . We then located additional research to support the thesis specifically- the human cost of Okinawa and Iwo Jima, the use of conventional weapons on mainland Japan the , opposition to the use of the atom bomb even by Oppenheimer who discovered the process , and last the political ramifications to the US position against Stalin in the emerging Cold War. I suggested that Alex should perhaps print out these resources and try to draft his paper with the resources in front of him.Alex hopes to have a completed draft by Wednesday when we will meet again to address grammar , edits etc.