Abstract vs. Preface — What's the Difference?

A guide for researchers to evaluate relevance.

A place for acknowledgments.

A standalone piece summarizing a paper's content.

A narrative passage providing background.

A preliminary section in academic papers.

An overview of the book’s scope and structure.

Considered apart from concrete existence

A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface.

Not applied or practical; theoretical.

A preliminary statement or essay introducing a book that explains its scope, intention, or background and is usually written by the author.

Difficult to understand; abstruse

An introductory section, as of a speech.

Denoting something that is immaterial, conceptual, or nonspecific, as an idea or quality

Something introductory; a preliminary

Impersonal, as in attitude or views.

Often Preface The words introducing the central part of the Eucharist in several Christian churches.

Having an intellectual and affective artistic content that depends solely on intrinsic form rather than on narrative content or pictorial representation

To introduce by or provide with a preliminary statement or essay.

A statement summarizing the important points of a text.

To serve as an introduction to.

Something abstract.

A beginning or introductory portion that comes before the main text of a document or book, typically serving to contextualize or explain the writing of the book and sometimes to acknowledge others' contributions.

An abstract of title.

An introduction, or series of preliminary remarks.

To take away; remove

(Roman Catholic) The prelude or introduction to the canon of the Mass.

To remove without permission; steal

A title or epithet.

To consider (an idea, for example) as separate from particular examples or objects

(transitive) To introduce or make a comment before (the main point).

(ăbstrăkt′) To write a summary of; summarize

(transitive) To give a preface to.

To create artistic abstractions of (something else, such as a concrete object or another style)

Something spoken as introductory to a discourse, or written as introductory to a book or essay; a proem; an introduction, or series of preliminary remarks.

An abridgement or summary of a longer publication.

The prelude or introduction to the canon of the Mass.

Something that concentrates in itself the qualities of a larger item, or multiple items.

To introduce by a preface; to give a preface to; as, to preface a book discourse.

Concentrated essence of a product.

To make a preface.

(medicine) A powdered solid extract of a medicinal substance mixed with lactose.

A short introductory essay preceding the text of a book

An abstraction; an abstract term; that which is abstract.

Furnish with a preface or introduction;

The theoretical way of looking at things; something that exists only in idealized form.

An introductory section in a book.

(arts) An abstract work of art.

A context provider for the reader.

(real estate) A summary title of the key points detailing a tract of land, for ownership; abstract of title.

(obsolete) Derived; extracted.

Drawn away; removed from; apart from; separate.

Not concrete: conceptual, ideal.

Insufficiently factual.

Apart from practice or reality; vague; theoretical; impersonal; not applied.

(grammar) As a noun, denoting a concept or intangible as opposed to an object, place, or person.

Difficult to understand; abstruse; hard to conceptualize.

Separately expressing a property or attribute of an object that is considered to be inherent to that object: attributive, ascriptive.

Pertaining comprehensively to, or representing, a class or group of objects, as opposed to any specific object; considered apart from any application to a particular object: general, generic, nonspecific; representational.

(archaic) Absent-minded.

(arts) Pertaining to the formal aspect of art, such as the lines, colors, shapes, and the relationships among them.

Free from representational qualities, in particular the non-representational styles of the 20^th century.

(music) Absolute.

(dance) Lacking a story.

Being a partial basis for subclasses rather than a complete template for objects.

(transitive) To separate; to disengage.

(transitive) To remove; to take away; withdraw.

To steal; to take away; to remove without permission.

(transitive) To summarize; to abridge; to epitomize.

To conceptualize an ideal subgroup by means of the generalization of an attribute, as follows: by apprehending an attribute inherent to one individual, then separating that attribute and contemplating it by itself, then conceiving of that attribute as a general quality, then despecifying that conceived quality with respect to several or many individuals, and by then ideating a group composed of those individuals perceived to possess said quality.

To extract by means of distillation.

(transitive) To consider abstractly; to contemplate separately or by itself; to consider theoretically; to look at as a general quality.

To withdraw oneself; to retire.

(transitive) To draw off (interest or attention).

To perform the process of abstraction.

To create abstractions.

To produce an abstraction, usually by refactoring existing code. Generally used with "out".

Withdraw; separate.

Considered apart from any application to a particular object; separated from matter; existing in the mind only; as, abstract truth, abstract numbers. Hence: ideal; abstruse; difficult.

Expressing a particular property of an object viewed apart from the other properties which constitute it; - opposed to concrete; as, honesty is an abstract word.

Abstracted; absent in mind.

To withdraw; to separate; to take away.

To draw off in respect to interest or attention; as, his was wholly abstracted by other objects.

To separate, as ideas, by the operation of the mind; to consider by itself; to contemplate separately, as a quality or attribute.

To epitomize; to abridge.

To take secretly or dishonestly; to purloin; as, to abstract goods from a parcel, or money from a till.

To separate, as the more volatile or soluble parts of a substance, by distillation or other chemical processes. In this sense extract is now more generally used.

To perform the process of abstraction.

That which comprises or concentrates in itself the essential qualities of a larger thing or of several things. Specifically: A summary or an epitome, as of a treatise or book, or of a statement; a brief.

A state of separation from other things; as, to consider a subject in the abstract, or apart from other associated things.

An abstract term.

A powdered solid extract of a vegetable substance mixed with sugar of milk in such proportion that one part of the abstract represents two parts of the original substance.

A concept or idea not associated with any specific instance;

A sketchy summary of the main points of an argument or theory

Consider a concept without thinking of a specific example; consider abstractly or theoretically

Make off with belongings of others

Consider apart from a particular case or instance;

Give an abstract (of)

Existing only in the mind; separated from embodiment;

Not representing or imitating external reality or the objects of nature;

Based on specialized theory;

Dealing with a subject in the abstract without practical purpose or intention;

A concise summary of a document's main points.

A snapshot of objectives, methods, and findings.

An abstract is a brief summary of the main points of a document, usually found in academic papers.

A preface is an introductory section in a book that provides context and background.

While rare, some academic papers may include both, but usually, they will just have an abstract.

Yes, an abstract is designed to be a standalone summary of the paper.

A preface may include context, acknowledgments, and a rationale for the work.

Typically, readers interested in more context about the book.

Yes, a preface discusses the book's genesis, and an introduction discusses its content.

While similar, a foreword is generally written by someone other than the author.

Most academic papers, especially scholarly articles, require an abstract.

Abstracts are typically a paragraph long but can vary depending on guidelines.

Preface length can vary widely depending on the book.

Not all books have a preface; it is optional.

Researchers, scholars, or anyone interested in the paper's topic.

Usually not, as it’s meant to be read before the main content.

While not mandatory, they can help you decide if the document is relevant to you.