Convert to straight lines/polygon

[Pete6000]

I've got a curve which I now want to convert to a polygon (ie straight lines between the nodes). I've found I can do this by breaking the curve, then deleting curved nodes, converting both end nodes to smart, selecting the two curve end nodes, then clicking join curves. After all that, it lets me use straight lines, so I can add a new node in but that seems ridiculous. Surely there's an easier way to do this - but what is it?

I'd be happy with either the whole shape being a polygon, or simply selecting a node and the surrounding curves become straight lines. 

[I'm sure others have had this issue since this is a really simple problem, but I can't find an answer in the help or another forum post (feel free to direct me if it's been asked already].

Thanks in advance

[KarinC]

Select all the nodes of the curve (drag over the curve with the node tool) then select Convert to sharp

[Pete6000]

Thanks!