`Before and after´ The Crisis of Credit Visualized

When I finished updating my summary, I started listing some mistakes I need to avoid and some useful information I should consider the next time I write a summary. So I thought I might share my brilliant findings with you.

- I forgot to write the title in capital letters.
So for the next time, I need to remember: the first sentence should be about what is the title (in capital letters and in quotation marks), who is the author, where the text was published (providing that this information is given), ideally followed by a sentence that summarizes what the text is about, without mentioning details. Important: the last sentence of the summary should always refer to the beginning of the summary!

- I have problems with register. When my teacher tells me to summarize a long, complicated article into an easy-to-understand 200 words text, I automatically assume I need to use lower register (easy= simple words).
To be prepare myself for the next summary/for the exam, I started reading articles of newspapers such as "The Economist", "The New Yorker" or "The Aeon Magazine" to get used to formal English. I need to remind myself that I CAN write a summary which is easy to understand by using higher register at the same time.

- I obviously hate paragraphs. They just don't exist for me. I don't even think about them until somebody tells me how weird my text looks, and why there aren't any paragraphs.
Next time I will make sure to take paragraphs into consideration. Maybe they are not so bad after all.

- Proofreading. It's not like I don't proofread my texts before I submit them. I always proofread them - once, twice...but apparently with my brain switched off because I am sometimes not able to find the most obvious mistakes.
Note to myself: to proofread effectively, brain must be switched on.

- I always write too many words. Last time I started writing without looking at my word count, I just wanted to see how many words I would write if there was no limit. I was quite satisfied with my summary and the information I put in it when I finally had a look at the word count. I had about 235 words, 35 too much. So I started shortening my text to the word count I needed, not at all satisfied with my text anymore.
So what is the best way to write a summary? Would my text have been any better with the word count always in mind? I know that we are allowed to write 250 words, so 50 words more, in the exam, which makes it easier for me. However, I still have problems with extracting the most important information without being too general, nor too specific.