IUP Goes Green!

IUP 2015

In 2015, IUP will begin a new program to attract more college students to attend IUP.  IUP’s president will begin a new incentive for students; if they drive a hybrid car they will be eligible for several options.  These options may include:  free parking, tuition reimbursement, free meal plan with flex money included, money towards rent, free books from the book store, or a free gift card for gas.  IUP’s president believes that this will give students a good incentive to drive a hybrid car.

            IUP’s president believes that if more college students drive hybrid cars that it will help IUP with its go green program.  Hybrid cars will produce less pollution and could help our environment.  IUP’s president wants IUP to be a better environment for the students and the staff and also the citizens that live in this community.  Staff members are also welcome to this incentive but instead, they can receive cash bonuses instead of the offers that are made to the students.  IUP’s president expects for at least a quarter of students at IUP to take this incentive seriously and purchase a hybrid car.

 

IUP 2020

Fall semester of 2020 at IUP.  Most of the cars that are seen on campus are now hybrid vehicles.  By this time, IUP’s president’s expectations were almost doubled because of this new incentive to students at IUP.  Most students have given up on spending extra money on stuff that they don’t really need and started to invest their extra money in buying a hybrid vehicle.

            College students from all over Pennsylvania begin to transfer to IUP because they have heard of this new incentive that is only offered at IUP.  The number of students at IUP has doubled over the past five years.  This incentive has made IUP build more dormitory halls in order to be able to accommodate all of these students from all over Pennsylvania to IUP.

 

IUP 2025

            IUP has now become a better environment for all the students and citizens of Indiana, Pa.  Thanks to the incentive there are now twice as many trees in the oak grove as there was ten years ago.  The air is now cleaner to breathe in due to the fact that the hybrid cars that are being driven around campus and all of Indiana, Pa, put out lower emissions than normal vehicles.  Vehicle emissions have now been cut by half over the years.  There is now less pollution in the air in Indiana, Pa.

            The community in Indiana is grateful with the outcome of the incentive placed by the president of IUP.  This incentive has also made more people from all around Pennsylvania to move to Indiana.  The population in Indiana has nearly doubled over the past few years due to the fact that it is a better environment than any other place in Pennsylvania.

TrAnSiTiOn

My research paper is going to reflect on my creative piece in the way that I will express my new knowledge and opinions that I learned about my topic while doing my research paper.  the research was helpful so that i can learn more about my own topic and find out what it was really about.  that was the main reason of doing the research.  my creative writing is going to be fictional but it will reflect from my research paper.  I will try to use some terms from  my research paper to include into my creative writing so that the audience can understand the concepts and terms.  my research paper should make my creative writing a little bit easier to write because i dont have to do any more research on this topic since it has already been done.  in my creative writing i will state more of my opinion as opposed to quotes and paraphrases that were found in my research paper.  this just feels like i am taking my research paper and taking it to a whole new level. 

free writing

IUP goes green!

I am going to write several reports like newspaper articles about my creative writing.  Its pretty much going to be fictional but I will try to use some stuff out of my research paper to include in my creative piece.  My creative piece is going to take place here at IUP.  I still haven’t figured out the characters but thats the least of my worries.

who are going to be my characters?

in this creative piece i will be writing about how IUP tries to go green to help our environment.  our dean will be my main character but most likely with another name or something since my story will prolly be fictionla but it will be about my researhc paper.  our dean will have an incentive for any students that want to attend iup campus.  the incentive will be that if iup students drive a hybrid car they will get tuition reembursment or maybve even free books or free meals or flex money or free rent… i haven’t decided which one of those will be included into my story or maybe i will include all of them in some way or form…  this will be a way of our school president to get iup to go green with this good incentive that many students will most likely strive for…  a couple of my friends will most likely be the other characters in this short story and they will be students at iup…  i think that this would also give more people a reason to attend iup and maybe if a lot of ppl follow up to try to get this incentive more ppl will attend IUp and this will become a pretty big D1 school in western PA…  like i said this will be a fictional story it wont be real cuz i could never see such an incentive take place in any college or university… oh yeah and cuz hybrid cars are expensive as fuck that it might just even out if u dont get one but i will keep this story fictional just for the purpose that i need to get this shit done and its an assignment… not a real story and dont think it will ever be real

blog 15

I think that the only research I will have to do is my own research paper that I already have done.  I might have to go outside of my research paper and do other research on the internet also for my novel.

This process feels like it is similar to the research paper but at the same time i think it is different.  I think it is similar because we are still working on the same topic as we did for our research papers.  I think that this novel is different because we don’t have to do as much research as we did for our research papers.

From the research paper to writing this novel I think that we have less work to do.  Another reason I think this novel should be easier is because it seems to be like free writing as opposed to the research paper which was all research and im glad thats done and outta the way!

blog 14

The books that we’ve read and the research paper that we have completed are going to help me because the research is already done and now I just have to put together a story which is going to come out in the form of reports.  The books also helped because it showed the research the the writers did and how much work they put into their writing.

My story is going to consist of several reports that will tell a story.  I gotta give marlen credit because he was the one to help me with this idea and i thought it was a pretty good idea and i think i’m going in the right path with this idea.  The reports will be as if they were articles in the newspaper.

Now that I have this idea in mind it makes it a little bit easier to write this novel.  I think that writing this novel should be easier than writing the research paper because i dont have to research anything else since the research has already been done.

Final research paper

Research Proposal

I think that this argument is important because people can be aware of why college students do not own hybrid cars.  Many people know how expensive they are but they do not know the reason why they are so expensive.

My objective is to be able to make people understand why college students aren’t driving hybrid cars on campus.  There have been plenty of times where I walk through the parking lots at IUP and dont see any hybrid cars in sight.  These hybrid cars are supposed to be environment friendly and i’m trying to find out why more of these cars aren’t being bought and driven.

Why dont college students drive hybrid cars?  Why are these hybrid cars so expensive that only few people can afford them?

Hybrid – an automobile with more than one power source, such as an electric motor and internal combustion engine or an electric motor with battery and fuel cells for energy storage.

My expectations are that people (college students) dont buy hybrid cars because they are too expensive.

Hypothesis – I think that people dont buy hybrids because of the price and also i think that people dont buy them because of the fact that they are fairly new to the automobile market.  Being new to the market means that people like to wait to buy things because of recalls and imperfections that the product might have when it is first put out on the market.

Sources:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hybrid%20car

 

Jeffrey Garcia

 

Professor Harrison

 

ENGL 202

 

20 March 2008

 

Why College Students Don’t Drive Hybrid Cars

Hybrid cars are becoming more popular throughout the United States, but many college students have not chosen to follow this trend.  “A hybrid car is an automobile with more than one power source, such as an electric motor and internal combustion engine or an electric motor with battery and fuel cells for energy storage (Dictionary.com).”  I chose this topic because the concept of a hybrid car is very interesting to me since I have always had a special interest in cars.  When I was young I chose to follow in my fathers footsteps with my love for cars, and have been working around them since a young age.  Working on cars has become my number one hobby over the years.  I am a junior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) majoring in Small Business and Entrepreneurship.  Being a full time student, I have chosen not to own a hybrid car for many reasons.  They are too expensive to buy and too expensive to fix.  Also, paying for a car payment and car insurance is difficult while attending college.  After graduation, I plan on opening my own car shop.  My passion for cars has led to wonder why, beyond my own reasons, college students do not drive hybrid vehicles.

There have been many times when I have walked around the (IUP) campus and never saw a hybrid car in the parking lot.  Hybrid cars are still fairly new to the auto industry, and being fairly new, many of these hybrid cars are very expensive and not everybody can afford them.  I want to be able to find out what the demand is for hybrid cars due to the rising gas prices in the United States. 

Phillip Dunn (2006) points out that “the tax incentive in the U.S. is another powerful motive – it can reduce your cost up to $3,400 depending on the cost of the vehicle…, the tax break only applies to the first 60,000 vehicles produced yearly by each manufacturer.”  This is a good incentive for people to purchase a hybrid car at the beginning of the year in order to save money in a tax break which can lower the cost of the vehicle in the end.  I am going to research why these hybrid vehicles are so expensive, and test IUP student’s knowledge of hybrid cars.  I will put together a questionnaire so I can ask some college students at IUP about hybrid cars, and determine why IUP college students don’t own hybrid cars.  I will also interview a friend who is a junior and she is currently attending IUP also.  I will also point out some of the advantages and disadvantages of owning a hybrid car.  This topic is important to me because I have come to realize that not too many college students drive hybrid cars and I am unsure of the reasons.

           

There are some advantages and some disadvantages of owning a hybrid car.  The major advantage of a hybrid car is the decreased pollution into the environment.  Jim Walczak (2008) states that, “hybrids emit up to 97% less toxic emissions and half as much greenhouse-causing carbon dioxide as the average car.”  Another advantage is that the battery pack of a hybrid car does not need to be charged from an external source, it recharges itself through regenerative breaking and from the gasoline engine (4 wheel drive).  This shows how convenient a hybrid car can be because the people that own hybrid cars do not have to worry about running out of battery while driving down the highway.  These are only some of the advantages of owning a hybrid vehicle.

A key disadvantage is that “they cost more – anywhere from $2000 to $5000 more than non-hybrid version of the same vehicle (4 wheel drive).”  This indicates that price is factor that a lot of people think about before buying a hybrid vehicle since they are priced higher than a normal gasoline car.  Hybrids can save people gas but, “hybrids have a more complex powertrain, which means more chances of failure and fewer fixes that your mechanic could do,” as stated by Jim Walczak.  This proves that it can be more expensive to fix a hybrid vehicle as opposed to a non-hybrid because parts are more expensive and difficult to fix.

            As a college student, I know that tuition is very expensive for college students.  Many students attend four year colleges and universities and end up having to pay a great deal of money in loans after they graduate.  Numerous college students drive cars that might have been their parent’s car before they purchased a new one, and can’t afford to have monthly payments on hybrid cars.  Some college students don’t even have the help of their parents to get through college and end up paying every penny of their college education on their own.  I am one of those students who have to pay for my own education after graduation from college.  I have a wide range of expenses living in college.  I pay for everything from books to food to gas in my car and even my own rent.  I only have one job, which is three hours away at home and I am only able work when I go home on weekends for about eight hours.  Not only do college students have a low income, but they also tend to spend their money in different ways.  In this article Crystal McCullough states that, “college students are not only spending money on other fashion savvy clothing but also on fast food and the latest electronics.”  This quote explains how college students have other spending habits.  College students like to stay up to date when it comes to fashion and having the latest technology gadgets like new cell phones and new IPods.  Kay Ahser states that, “college students are notorious for always being broke.”  This article explains how college students become broke from spending money on different things.  As a college student I know what it is like to be in college and be broke.

Cars have been around for a long time and they have come a long way with technology.  “The Baushke family, prominent citizens in Benton Harbor, Michigan and carriage makers by trade, built Americas first car with 4-wheels and seating for 5 people in 1894 (“America’s First Car”).”  This quote shows how long ago the first car was built.  Cars are now being built to last longer than what they used to before.  They are being built with more durable materials and resources.  These days, cars have a lot of technology built into them for convenience to the car owners.  Some of the technology includes DVD players, Global Positioning System also known as GPS, built in MP3 players, IPod ready receivers and many more parts.  A lot of technology means that people are going to pay more money for these new cars.

            Phillip Dunn states “the Honda Civic, for example, gets 36 mpg.  But, when comparing prices – hybrids cost from $19,000 to $25,000 and gas saver cars cost $14,000 to $17,000.”  Here the author explains the difference of prices between a hybrid car and a normal non-hybrid gas saver.  Phillip Dunn also mentions that “the difference in average annual fuel bills – $405 for a Honda Insight versus $635 for a Honda Civic…  Over a ten year period owning a hybrid you will save only $2,300.”  I think that these figures say it all, buying a hybrid is only going to save hybrid owners $2,300.  Some people look at this as being a large amount of money saved by owning a hybrid car.

            Jim Walczak points out that “The first hybrid electric model in the U.S. market was the Honda Insight (61 mpg city, 70 mpg highway) in 1999.”  This quote explains that hybrid vehicles aren’t even a decade old so this means that they are still fairly new to the automobile market.

            Jim Walczak states “the idea with hybrid vehicles is to get the most fuel economy out of a smaller engine.”  This is how hybrid cars are designed to work.  Hybrid cars also have an electric motor to help out with the fuel economy which is what most people are aiming for with these outrageous gas prices.  Jim Walczak also says “by combining topnotch fuel efficiencies and ultra-low tailpipe emissions, the end result is some of the cleanest and ‘greenest’ vehicles we’ve ever seen.  As a whole, Hybrids deliver big-engine performance with small-engine fuel economy.”  This informs us that hybrid cars don’t lose any power and they are still environment friendly.

            Hybrid vehicles have a fairly low emissions output.  Phillip Dunn states that “hybrid cars offer more than just great fuel economy, they offer many green advantages as well…  Also, in large cities were pollution is at its worse, they make an even larger difference since they produce very little emissions during slow speed city driving and the inevitable traffic jams.”  Low emissions output out of these hybrid cars help our environment a little bit better than a non-hybrid car.  “Under acceleration, we found the Corolla, a conventional ICE vehicle, to be approximately 8.0 dBA louder than the hybrid vehicle, the Prius, when operating with its ICE (Wiener et al. 75).”  This shows that hybrid vehicles are also quieter than a normal non-hybrid car.  A quieter car can help with the environment and our noise pollution.

I put together a questionnaire and walked around IUP campus and asked college students what they knew about hybrid cars.  This is my way of gathering information from a reliable source because it is first hand research gathered from IUP college students.  I chose college students because college students are what my topic is mainly about.  The questions I chose where important to me because these questions will help me better understand what IUP students know about hybrid cars and how they function.  I chose a random sample of 30 IUP students in the Oak Grove.  Most of the students that I asked knew what a hybrid car was, but when I asked if they knew how a hybrid car functions, 19 students said they knew how they functioned and replied by saying that they used electricity to run.  Out of the 30 students that I asked, none of them owned a hybrid vehicle.  For my next question I asked if they would ever buy a hybrid vehicle in the future.  24 IUP students out of 30 answered yes they would buy a hybrid car.  Last but not least I asked why they would like to own a hybrid vehicle.  The most common answer that I got was, to save money on gas because they get better gas mileage.

I also conducted an interview with a white female college student currently attending IUP.  Danielle Scott is a junior majoring in sociology.  My first question to her was; do you own a hybrid car?  No.  Are there any specific reasons why you don’t own a hybrid car?  I don’t have money to buy a new car, especially spend the extra money on a hybrid car.  Do you know what a hybrid car is and how they function?  I have a basic idea of what a hybrid car is but I don’t know enough about them to know how they function and all the details about them.  Do you currently have a job while attending college?  Yes.  What are your expenses like at college besides tuition?  Car expenses, rent, and other bills such as cell phone and credit cards.  Do your parents help you financially for your college education?  No, they have not helped me in all of the years that I have been in college.

            I put together a very small questionnaire and asked some IUP students about hybrid cars.  The questionnaire can be found in Appendix A.  I did expect most students to know what a hybrid vehicle was due to the fact that a lot of commercials have to do with hybrid vehicles and how much of a better gas mileage they get compared to normal gasoline cars.  I was actually surprised by how many students knew how a hybrid car functioned.  I didn’t expect that many IUP students to know how a hybrid car functions; I thought less people would know how they functioned.  Before I started this questionnaire I had the feeling that nobody was going to answer yes when I asked if they owned a hybrid car.  A couple of students did tell me that they might have a sibling that may own a hybrid vehicle but they didn’t own a hybrid car.  Most of the students did tell me that they would like to own a hybrid vehicle in the future.  I got the most common reason and it was exactly as I expected it to be.  They want one mostly for better gas mileage because gas is too expensive these days.

Most people like to wait to see how a product is going to turn out before they buy it.  I think that this is the case with hybrid vehicles and why people are still kind of skeptic of buying them.  People still won’t buy them because they are still basically new and they don’t want to end up buying a car that is going to break down on them and is going to have technical problems.  I think that the prices of these cars are still pretty high because of how new this line of vehicles is.  I don’t think that car manufacturers have found any other cheaper ways of producing these hybrid vehicles.  This is another reason why car owners aren’t buying these hybrid cars. 

            Some people are unaware of how environment friendly hybrids are and how they pollute less of our environment as opposed to normal gasoline cars that are still being driven today.  There are fuel efficient vehicles in the automobile industry but the hybrid is even more fuel efficient than those cars due to the fact that they run on gasoline and can also run on battery which is the point of a hybrid car.

            I don’t think that hybrid vehicles will ever diminish the sales of the normal gasoline cars that we drive today.  It is known that hybrid cars get excellent gas mileage.  Hybrid cars can get anywhere from 50 to 70 miles per gallon as opposed to a normal gasoline car that would normally get about 25 to almost 40 miles per gallon.  Gas prices are high these days and a lot of people don’t exactly agree with them.  There are several solutions to spending less money buying gas for cars like carpooling, public transportation or maybe even riding a bike to work, but some people are looking to invest into getting a hybrid car instead because of the fuel economy that they have to offer and how much less emissions output that they have as opposed to normal gasoline cars.

            Hybrid cars just seem to be the new cool thing to have; for example new cell phones come out all the time and everybody wants to stay updated with the latest and nicer cell phone.  People like the bells and whistles that these hybrid cars have to offer.  Hybrid cars are slowly becoming more popular and I think it is due to the fact that the gas mileage is amazing on these cars.

My expectations were not exact compared to the results I got from my questionnaire.  I was surprised by some of the results I got from at least two of the questions in my questionnaire.  This research proved to me that not too many people drive hybrid cars at IUP.  People would like to own them but they are too expensive and can’t afford them.  This research also proved to me that many people know about hybrid cars but do not know how they function and what their purpose is.  The interview I conducted with the IUP student helped me further determine that college students cannot afford buying a hybrid car.  College students have other expenses to pay for and paying for a car and the insurance is out of the question.

            The purpose of the hybrid car is mostly to save people gas and be environment friendly.  Hybrid cars can be convenient when it comes to pumping gas but they can also be very expensive.  Hybrid cars have a lot of technology incorporated into them and I believe that that’s what makes hybrid cars more expensive.  Hybrid cars can be expensive when it comes to fixing them because they are new and there aren’t many mechanics that know how to fix these cars if something goes wrong with them.

Hybrid cars aren’t being driven by college students because we cannot afford them.  They may be cheap when it comes to paying for gas but the money up front seems to be a little bit out of the question.  They can also be expensive if they would break down with mechanical issues.  I believe that if mechanical issues are taken care of by the car manufacturers more people will want to buy hybrid cars even though it seems like the tax break that buyers get is a good motivation to purchase a hybrid vehicle.  There needs to be more positives about hybrid cars in order for people to want to buy them.

            From personal experience I know that college is very expensive.  During this research I have also learned that hybrid cars are expensive too.  As a college student, all my college expenses do not allow me to purchase a hybrid car.

 

Appendix A

Questionnaire

1. Do you know what a hybrid car is?
2. Do you know how hybrid cars function?
3. Do you own a hybrid car?
4. Would you ever buy a hybrid car?
5. Why would u like to own a hybrid car?

 

Appendix B

Abstract

The point of this research was to answer the question why college students don’t drive hybrid cars.  I did research on the internet, put together a questionnaire and I also conducted an interview.  This is significant because college students at IUP do not drive hybrid cars.  It is also very significant because it is said that hybrid cars are better for our environment and they also save people money on gas.  From my research I was able to conclude that college students don’t drive hybrid cars because they are expensive.  Another reason why they do not drive hybrid cars is because college students have other expenses at school.

 

Works Cited

 

 

“America’s First Car.”  The Southwest Michigan Directory.

 

<http://www.swmidirectory.org/Baushke_Car.html&gt;

 

Asher, Kay.  “Lessons from College Students on Living Frugally.”  Helium.com 18 Mar.

 

2008

 

<http://www.helium.com/items/277241-college-students-notorious-always&gt;

 

Dunn, Phillip.  “Hybrid Cars – Pros and Cons.”  PHYSORG.  2006

 

<http://www.physorg.com/news10031.html&gt;

 

McCullough, Crystal.  “Student Spending Habits, Debt are on the Increase.” 

 

SMUdailycampus.com 4 Nov. 2005

 

<http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2005/11/

 

04/News/Student.Spending.Habits.Debt.Are.On.The.Increase-2276725.shtml>

 

Quiroga, Tony.  “Green Machines.”  Car and Driver.  Jan.  2006

 

<http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/hot_lists/car_shopping/green_machines/h

 

onda_civic_hybrid_road_test+page-2.html>

 

Scott, Danielle.  Personal interview.  1 Apr.  2008.

 

Walczak, Jim.  “4-wheel drive/offroading.”  About.com  25 Feb. 2008

 

            <http://4wheeldrive.about.com/cs/buyacaronline/a/hybridcarstruck_2.htm

 

<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hybrid%20car&gt;

 

Wiener, William, Naghshineh, Koorosh, Salisbury, Brad, and Rozema, Randall.  The

 

impact of Hybrid Vehicles on Street Crossings.  2007

 

<http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=3&hid=112&sid=01d30dca-2117-4dcf-

 

b055-4cc39d64f8c4%40sessionmgr102>

Novel Proposal

I am not too positive on how I am going start my creative writing.  I think I am going to do a short story based on my research paper.  I might include some ideas from my paper into my story to make it a little bit more realistic and entertaining for my audience.

My characters in my story will basically be IUP students.  I’m not too sure of who would be the main character yet.  The setting will be in Indiana, pa, IUP to be exact because that is what my paper is based on.  My plot of the story will be to show why college students dont drive hybrid cars and where does most of their money go to.

My idea in my story is to show in what different ways college students spend their money.  For example:  fashion, partying, entertainment, etc.  This is the first idea that came to mind when I thought about writing this novel or short story.  I will use some examples from my paper that I had touched upon as examples in my novel or short story.

Almost stress free!

This paper has been very stressful in almost every way that I look at it.  I tried to make a perfect paper but I doubt that it is.  I guess the good thing is that I tried.  This research paper ended up being a little bit tougher than what I had expected for it to be even tho the final paper is almost due and I wont have to deal with it again.

It feels great to know that im done with the paper just because I got sick of doing research for it.  I’m not the type of person that loves writing papers thats why i’m happy that its done… well almost done.

I hope all my hardwork pays off when I get my grade for my paper.  Its been stressful but at the rate of step by step it helps out in the long run because it helped me understand each step of the way and why we did it like that.  Overall i’m glad that MOST of the work is done for this damn thing and I wont have to deal with it again… well this topic I should say.

Reflective Letter

In this class I have learned how to do a research paper.  I have learned how to go further into research to find valuable information for a research paper.  Speaking of research, I never knew it would be hard to do a research paper until I started my own research paper in this class.  The steps that we took to write this research paper were very helpful to me.  The steps seemed long but in the end it just made writing the paper easier for me.

I hope that after writing this research paper I am able to write other ones for my future classes.  I also think that the reading was helpful because it showed how much work the authors went through to do their research.  Peer reviewing was also helpful for me because i could read what other people had written and that gave me ideas of where and how I can improve my paper.

Blog #10

First draft is done… Somewhat.  I knew this paper wouldn’t be easy to write but didn’t expect it to be this hard.  Definitely harder than what I thought it would be.  One of the first things I need to do when I get my paper back is use more sources in it.  I feel like I didn’t have enough sources when I turned it in on friday therefore I will be using more sources.

Another thing is that my paper was a short from marlens requirements.  I have to try to expand my paper the best way that I can.  It was hard for me to get the number of pages that I have now but I guess thats going to be something that I have to put a little more work into getting done.

Last and not least I think I need to collaborate more to my conclusion.  I felt like my conclusion was pretty weak in one way or another so I will definitely try to add to it and move things around as I can.

I tried taking advice from all the stuff that was written in my paper in the peer review.  I feel like i’ll get a better feedback from marlen and hopefully him reading my first draft will lead me into the right direction to writing a better paper because I know my paper is pretty shitty as it is right now.