How to make graphs for your essay

Before we start, please note that if you put graphs in your essay, they need to meet

the following criteria:

Graphs must be correctly labelled and must include a heading

The graphs must be referred to in the text of your essay. In other words, don’t

just place a graph in your essay – if you do put one in, you need to discuss what

the graph shows (make it clear why showing this graph is relevant).

Also, please do NOT reference me, these notes or the lecture slides in your essay.

You see a graph on rent controls in your textbook, so you will reference the textbook

both in-text and in your reference list at the end of the essay.

Please also make use of the essay support services – they are there to help you and

the essay markers will read your argument and advise you on how to improve your

argument. The markers have had their training and are more aware than me of the

criteria for success in this essay – make use of the support they offer through essay

hotseats and tutorials.

With that said, let’s get to how we make graphs.

Step 1. Open Microsoft PowerPoint

Trust me, you want to do this in PowerPoint, as opposed to word or excel

Step 2. Select each of the textboxes and delete them so that you end up with a

blank slide.

You will know that you have selected it when the white dots appear around the textbox

(as depicted in Figure 1 below, where white dots appear around the selected textbox

which reads “Click to add title”). Then press delete on the keyboard. Do this for both

textboxes on the slide so eventually looks as depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Step 3. Make your axes

Step 3.1: In Powerpoint, on the top left of your screen, press on the “insert” option (in

between “home” and “design”). I have circled this in Green in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3

Step 3.2: Once you have opened the “insert” menu, click on “shapes”, this will give

you a drop down menu of shapes to insert. I have circled this in green in Figure 4

below.

Figure 4

Step 3.3: Click on the straight line shape as shown in Figure 5. I have circled the line

in green (it falls under the sub-heading “lines” in the drop down menu).

Figure 5

Step 3.4: Once you have clicked on the straight line shape, a little cross will appear on

your screen. Drag the cross down with your mouse to draw a straight line for the y-

axis. This will look as follows (Figure 6).

Figure 6

Step 3.5: Blue is the default option of the line colour. If you would like to change the

colour of the line to another colour, then right click on the line you have drawn and a

drop down menu will appear (as depicted in Figure 7).

Figure 7

Step 3.6: Once the drop-down men appears, click on the “outline” option, circled in

green in Figure 8 and you will see a colour palette appear (Figure 8). I have chosen

the colour black.

Figure 8

Step 3.7: Upon choosing black, I get the result depicted in Figure 9 below – a y-axis.

Figure 9

Step 3.8: To get an x-axis, just copy and paste the line you created for the y-axis, click

on the copied line and drag it to make a straight x-axis. The result looks as follows

(Figure 10).

Figure 10.

Step 4. Label your axes

Now that you have created your axes, you need to label them.

Step 4.1: Click on the “insert” option (the same as you did in step 3.1), but now, once

you have clicked on “insert” click on the “textbox” option, as depicted in Figure 11

below.

Figure 11.

Step 4.2: Once you have clicked on textbox, a small arrow will appear on your screen.

Use this to draw a square box with the mouse, as depicted in Figure 12. As you can

see in Figure 12, I drew the textbox under the x-axis so that I am now preparing to

label the x-axis. In theory, it doesn’t matter where you draw the textbox as you can

always drag it to wherever you want on the screen with the mouse.

Figure 12

Step 4.3: now that I have drawn the textbox, I need to insert text into it. The text you

enter will be whatever you want to label your axes. In this example, I am going to label

the x – axis quantity. You may want to be more specific in the essay i.e, label your axis

quantity of a particular type of housing. To insert text, you simply click on the textbox

you have created and start typing the words you want to appear in the textbox, this is

shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13

Step 4.4: Repeat Steps 4.1-4.3 to create a label for the y-axis and for the graph. Figure

14 is an example.

Figure 14

Step 4.5: If you would like to change the font of your labels to match the font type you

are using in your essay then simply select the text inside the textbox (such that it goes

grey as depicted in Figure 15 below) and then go to the top of the screen and click the

drop down arrow on the text option (as seen in Figure 15) and choose your preferred

font. You can also change the font size (to the right of the change font option).

Figure 15

Step 5. Drawing and labelling supply and demand curves

Now that you have your axes, you can draw your supply and demand curves. To do

this, you follow the exact same steps as given in steps 3.1 – 3.8, the only difference is

that you position the lines differently, so that you have an upwards sloping supply

curve and a downward sloping demand curve. All this requires is for you to select (by

clicking on) the new lines you insert and then dragging them to an appropriate position

on the screen with the mouse. For example, see Figure 16 below.

To label these curves, you follow the exact same procedure detailed in Steps 4.1 –

4.3, except that you click on the textboxes you create and drag them next to your

supply and demand curves (see Figure 16 below). You can use the instructions given

in step 4.5 to change the font of the text.

Figure 16

Step 6. Labelling the equilibrium point

Step 6.1: You need to label your initial equilibrium point. In Powerpoint, on the top left

of your screen, press on the “insert” option (in between “home” and “design”). I have

circled this in green in Figure 17 below.

Figure 17

Step 6.2: Once you have opened the “insert” menu, click on “shapes”, this will give

you a drop down menu of shapes to insert, as shown in Figure 18 below.

Figure 18

Step 6.3: Once you have opened the options of shapes, click on the oval circled in

green in Figure 19 below. The oval shape falls under the “basic shapes” sub-heading

in the shapes option.

Figure 19

Step 6.4: Once you have clicked on the oval shape, use it to draw a small circle and

on the point of intersection of your supply and demand graphs (as shown in Figure 20

below). The automatic colour of the shape is blue. If you would like to change the

colour, then simply follow the instructions described in Steps 3.5 and 3.6. Be sure that

you have clicked on the circle when you follow steps 3.5 and 3.6 such that you are

changing the colour of the circle you have drawn, and not of any other shape on your

diagram.

Figure 20

Step 6.5: You should also label this point of intersection, for example, point A. You do

this using the labelling instructions given in 4.1- 4.5, whereby you insert a textbox and

type what you want it to say. You can also change the font type and font size. The

result in given in Figure 21.

Figure 21

Step 6.6: Label the equilibrium price and quantity on the x and y-axis. Use P0 and Q0,

you do not have to use numbers. You do this using textboxes as discussed in steps

4.1-4.5. The result is given in Figure 22 below. Make sure that P0 and Q0 “make sense

in relation to your equilibrium point, A. In other words, have the initial equilibrium price,

P0, going exactly horizontally across from point A (the intersection of supply and

demand) and initial equilibrium quantity, Q0, going exactly vertically down from the

initial equilibrium, point A.

Figure 22

NB! The Demand and Supply diagram I have drawn in Figures 16 through 22 is an

example. Remember, your essay asks you (after having read the Silber article)

to:

“Critically assess rent control as a long term policy in addressing the shortage of

affordable accommodation in Cape Town.”

You are then instructed as follows:

“In responding to the above, be sure to:

a. Identify the specific problem with which Silber is concerned (is it all housing, low

income housing, housing in a specific inner city area etc.)

b. Consider the short term and long term impacts on various stakeholders (for

example: tenants, landlords, potential home-buyers, city council). In order to

present a well-reasoned and well-argued essay, you must present BOTH sides

of the issue.

This idea of short term and long term impacts relates to the idea of elasticity. Thus,

if you draw graphs, you will probably have a short-term market for a particular

type of housing in which you introduce a rent control and a long-term depiction

in which you introduce the rent control (I discuss how to draw a rent control in

Step 7 below). The impacts will be different. Why? Because elasticities differ

over the short run and long run.

So, when you are drawing your original graphs, before introducing the rent controls,

you will need to ask yourself whether you are doing your short-run graph or

your long-run graph. You will then need to adjust the relevant elasticities (shown

by steepness of graph accordingly). When you introduce rent control as

discussed below, the impact will be different in the long-run vs short-run.

My best-advice: Short-Run (SR) vs Long-Run (LR).

In the SR draw a vertical, perfectly inelastic supply curve and explain why in the text

of your essay.

Then, acknowledge that, overtime, the supply curve becomes more elastic (so draw a

flatter supply curve, not perfectly elastic, but more elastic than in the SR for you LR

graph). Explain why we expect the supply curve to be more elastic in the long-run in

the text of your essay. Use different headings to distinguish your SR and LR graphs.

If you draw your graphs correctly, you will find that the shortage created through

introducing the rent control in the SR will be less than the shortage created through

the introduction of a rent control in the LR. Use this information to answer the essay

question.

Step 7. Introducing the rent control

Step 7.1: To introduce the rent control, you draw and label a line following the

instructions given in Steps 3 and 4 and then drag the line to an appropriate place on

the diagram. My best-advice is that you make the rent control a different colour to the

supply and demand diagrams so that it is clear that this line on the graph is different

(steps 3.5 and 3.6 show you how to change the colour of a shape). An example would

be as depicted in Figure 23 below.

Figure 23

Hint: A rent control is just which is just one type of price ceiling and so must be

introduced below the equilibrium price to have an impact. When you introduce the rent

ceiling explain what it means in the text of your argument.

You should also discuss the shortage created as a result of the rent ceiling (the

difference between quantity demanded and quantity suppled) and the difference in the

shortage created in the LR vs the SR.

A nice way to indicate a shortage is as follows (you would do this for both your SR and

LR graphs):

Step 7.2: Label the Quantity demanded after introducing the rent control. This will be

the quantity demanded as read of the demand curve. To indicate this, first draw a

dotted line going down to the x-axis at the point where the rent ceiling intersects the

demand curve. To draw a dotted line, follow the instructions given in step three to

create a line. Then, to make it dotted, right click on the line you have created and then

click on the outline option, as circled in Green in Figure 24 below.

Figure 24

Step 7.3: Once you have clicked on the outline option, move your mouse over the

‘dashes” option (do not click on it, just move your mouse onto the option). This is

circled in green in Figure 25 below. You will see that a bunch of different dash types

appear to the right of the “Dashes” option.

Figure 25

Step 7.4: Choose your “dash type” from the dashes dropdown menu by clicking on the

option you like. In Figure 25 above, I have clicked on the third option, this gives me

the line depicted in Figure 26 below. You can change the colour of this line, if you wish,

as I have instructed before in steps 3.5 and 3.6.

Figure 26

Step 7.5: Label the quantity demanded on the x-axis. This will be the point where the

dotted line you have drawn hits the x-axis. To do this, you need to insert a textbox and

type “Qd”. To do this, just follow the instructions given in Step 4. Your graph will look

as given in Figure 27 below.

Figure 27

Step 7.6: Repeat steps 7.1 – 7.5 to indicate the quantity supplied after introducing the

rent control. The diagram you will end up will look something like that given in Figure

28 (though remember, you will have SR and LR graphs with different elasticities).

Figure 28

Discuss the difference between quantity demanded and quantity supplied in the text.

Recall, a rent ceiling creates a shortage. You may want to indicate the size of the

shortage to visually display the difference between the SR and LR impact of the rent

ceiling. You can do this by inserting a bracket on your graph and labelling it “shortage”.

To do this, follow the steps below.

Step 7.7: On the top left of your screen, press on the “insert” option (in between

“home” and “design”). I have circled this in Green in Figure 29 below.

Figure 29

Step 7.8: Once you have opened the “insert” menu, click on “shapes”, this will give

you a drop down menu of shapes to insert. I have circled this in green in Figure 30

below.

Figure 30

Step 7.9: Once the shapes menu is open, click on the bracket circled in green below

form the shapes menu, as shown in Figure 31. It falls under the sub-heading “basic

shapes”.

Figure 31

Step 7.10: Once you click on the brackets option, you will notice that a small cross

appears on the screen. Click on the place where you want to draw the shape, you can

use the white and yellow arrows that appear once you have drawn the shape to adjust

its size. Since the shortage created is the difference between quantity demanded and

quantity supplied, I have drawn the bracket such that it spans the difference between

quantity demanded and quantity supplied on the x-axis. This is a neat way of doing

this as you do not want to over-crowd the diagram, see Figure 32 below.

Figure 32

Step 7.11: Label the bracket, “Shortage”. You do this by creating a textbox as per the

instructions given in step 4. It looks as follows (Figure 33).

Figure 33

Step 8: In-text referencing your graphs

Step 8.1: Insert a textbox, in the right-hand corner of your graph. To do this, follow the

instructions given in step 4. This will be an in-text reference, which takes the format

(Author, year: page number). Look for a relevant graph in the textbook to cite, my

advice is to cite a graph from Chapter 6 where you learned the idea of a rent ceiling.

It’s okay that the textbook doesn’t show this with the different types of elasticities for

the supply curve, just cite a page where you get the idea of what a rent ceiling should

look like and leave it at that. What you end up with will be something like that depicted

in Figure 34 below.

Figure 34

Step 8.2: Don’t forget to insert this in-text reference as a full citation in your list of

references at the end of your essay. Please consult the referencing guide for how to

do this correctly (you get penalized for incorrect referencing, both in-text and in your

list of references).

Step 9: Getting your graphs into your word document

Once you have completed a graph, you will need to put it into your word document.

To do this, you need to do a print screen – please follow the steps below.

Step 8.1: Make sure that you have the PowerPoint slide with the graph you want to

put into your essay open.

Step 8.2: If you go back to Figure 34 above, you will notice that the label “Qd” is

underlined in red. This is because the word “Qd” does not exist in the English

language. You will want to make sure that there are no red lines appearing

underneath words on your graph before you print-screen the image. To do this, right-

click on the word that it underlined in red and select “add to dictionary”. This is

indicated in Figure 35 below (circled in green).

Figure 35

Step 8.3: Once you have corrected all spelling mistakes and removed all red lines,

you are now ready to print screen your image. To do this, hold down the control, shift

and printscreen keys on your keyboard at the same time (Make sure that you have

the PowerPoint slide with the graph you want to put into your essay open when you

do this). When I printscreen the image, this is what happens (Figure 36 below)

Figure 36

Do you notice that the printscreen literally captures everything on my screen, including

the date, time and all other things I have open on my computer screen. You do NOT

want to include this in your essay. To get rid of all the other stuff on the screen and

place on the image of the graph into your essay, you will need to crop the image you

have printscreened, this is done as follows.

Step 8.4: Select (by clicking on) the image that you have copied and pasted into your

essay. You will notice that white bubbles appear around it, as depicted in Figure 37.

Once you have clicked on the image, in your word document click on the format option

as shown in Figure 37 below (circled in green).

Figure 37

Step 8.5: Once you have clicked on the format option, click on the option called “crop”

as circled in green in Figure 38 below.

Figure 38

Step 8.6: You will notice that when you click on the crop button, black bars (as opposed

to white dots appear around your printscreened image). As seen in above in Figure

38. What you need to do, is drag these bars to cover up everything you want to get rid

of from the print-screened image (in other words, drag over everything that isn’t the

graph or the reference). I have done this below in Figure 39. Notice how I have cropped

away all the background stuff from the PowerPoint image.

Figure 39

Step 8.7: Centre your diagram in the word document.