CDT, the JFK assassination is one of those topics that interests me to the point that I have read numerous books, papers, etc and have informally studied the topic for years.
I've read/seen a ton of stuff both lone gunman and conspiracy based. After all this time, I believe that it happened "not as the Warren Commission says it did, but how the Warren Commission says it did." Meaning, Oswald was the lone gunman, but the WC's account is filled with errors and misconceptions.
There is so much conspiracy stuff out there, and the bottom line is that it's all "too outrageous." Complexity is nice if you want a cool story, but some of these theories are so out there that if it did happen that way, somebody would have seen it happen or someone would have said something.
This is simply a suggestion, but I'd go with the lone gunman theory. There are a few EXCELLENT books/works out there that are far more complete than the conspiracy stuff. I assumed a conspiracy for a long time, but the lone gunman stuff just makes the most sense.
I could go on and on and type pages and pages of "summary" but I'll throw you a few excellent references:
Case Closed by Gerald Posner
-Probably the best book I've ever read. It proves, in my opinion, that Oswald was the lone gunman. There is excellent attention to detail, great scientific evidence and is a tremendous research tool. No wonder it was a NY Times Best Seller. He also debunks many of the common conspiracy theories. It's an excellent read whether you want to go this route with your paper or not. But, if you are truly interested in the assassination, this is a must read.
Dale Myers (Google him)
-This guy is a computer animator that recreated the assassination frame by frame on the Zapruder film. It's tremendous work. Not only does he PROVE that the magic bullet did nothing magical - it went dead straight, he shows new enhanced footage of the film when Conally's lapel flap flips up one frame (1/10 of a second) after Kennedy is hit, demonstrating they were hit at exactly the same time (no 1 second delay in reaction). He also completely disproved the acoustics evidence, which was the major evidence the HSCA used to come to their "probable conspiracy." Basically, he took all the various films of that day from eyewitnesses from different positions, etc and tied them all in. The cop with the "open mic" HAD to be in a certain place for the evidence to be valid. Myers showed that the cop didn't reach that place (he was a few hundred feet behind Kennedy's car) until after the shooting was over.
OK, that's all I have time for. I'd suggest looking at those two things, if even for casual purposes. Feel free to PM me or reply if you got more questions.