You can attend an open meeting. As far as note taking, I'm not sure what "the rules" would be--guess it would be up to the individual group. I have seen nursing students as well as people from the medical community come into some of the meetings I have been to--they carried a notepad and occasionally would write down some things. I do know that you are supposed to not use anyone's name and say what they shared. If someone was quoting something out of literature...things that be found written in Alcoholics Anonymous primary text--Big Book....I don't know why you couldn't write that down. You could even get an AA Big Book at the local library and read through it yourself to get an idea of what to write your paper about. But--yes, anonymity (as far as who you see in a meeting and what is shared by the individual) is supposed to be protected. But the program of AA--you can get an idea..even without taking notes by attending an open meeting. Anyone can attend an open meeting, including family members of alcoholics.
**Also, there are some t.v. shows that deal with addiction--Intervention, Celebrity Rehab (with Dr. Drew), Addicted, etc that might also help---not sure if your teacher would also include these as part of project or not but you can find previous shows online.