Background: This assignment is designed to allow you to explore a contemporary
Area of Information Warfare that interests you. It should enable you to come to grips
with at least one of the issues in depth, and thereby help you to understand the
Others as they are inter-related. It will also introduce you to the skills required to
produce a short academic paper in the specified format.
Task for this assignment:
It is required that you produce a paper of between 1800 and 2300 words
(including the abstract, but excluding the reference list). You will be expected to
have researched this topic and have a number of references to show that you
have explored the literature. A paper that is just a list of unsubstantiated
opinions will not be accepted – this is a research and writing task. Examples of
the format of the paper can be found in the unit materials.
You should pick one title for your paper from the following list:
1. “Cyberattack can cause physical damage”. Discuss this statement with
specific focus on Australian critical infrastructure.
2. How useful are open sources of information to modern information warfare?
3. What is Cyberwarfare, and what is the relationship of cyberwarfare to
information warfare?
Remember that this is a paper about information warfare, NOT information
security. Whilst some aspects of information security may be present, it is not the
main topic.

Format of the assignment
It should be written as an academic paper not a business report and must
include the following:
1. A separate title page containing the unit name, student name, student
number, semester and year and the title of the paper;
2. An abstract outlining the topic chosen, plus a summary of your research.
This must not exceed 300 words;
3. The main text of your paper. This should be 1500 to 2000 words long;
and
4. References used in your text. (An academic paper does not have a
Bibliography as only references that are cited in the text are listed at the
end.)
5. Format: The paper must be in the format outlined in the accompanying
document on the Blackboard Assessments section of this unit called
“CSI2104 Academic Paper Format Guidelines”.
Please note:
• Your assignment must be in one MSWord doc, docx or rtf file.
• Do not submit zip files.
• Do not submit an electronic ECU cover sheet.
Referencing: Your referencing should be consistent. If you are unsure about this,
th
use the APA 6 method of citing sources within your report.
See
http://www.ecu.edu.au/learning-and-development/assets/files/downloads/refguide.pdf
and http://www.apastyle.org/apa-style-help.aspx
for information on how to format a academic paper, and formatting citations and
your Reference list.
• Lecture slides are not suitable references.
• [The references that you cite should have academic credibility, ie. not
Wikipedia or similar.]
Marks will be deducted where correct referencing is not used.
CSI2104 Introduction to Information Warfare page 2
----------------------- Page 3-----------------------
Marking Scheme (out of a possible 100%)
The marks will be allocated as follows:
1. Originality of material (30% of total)
2. Clarity of presentation of concepts (20% of total)
3. Depth of content (30% of total)
4. Significance and number of references (20% of total)
Academic Misconduct
Edith Cowan University has firm rules governing academic misconduct and there are
substantial penalties that can be applied to students who are found in breach of these
rules. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to:
• Plagiarism;
• Unauthorised collaboration;
• Cheating in examinations;
• Theft of other students’ work.
Additionally, any material submitted for assessment purposes must be work that has
not been submitted previously, by any person, for any other unit at ECU or
elsewhere.
The ECU rules and policies governing all academic activities, including misconduct,
can be accessed through the ECU website.