论文各部分内容的作用不同，它们各司其职，从不同角度呈现研究。但同时，又有不少概念让作者们感觉困惑，比如：Abstract 和 Introduction 有何区别？figure captions，labels 以及 legends 是同一个概念吗？在这个系列中，就论文中常见的易混淆概念进行详细辨析。

第一期：Abstract 和 Introduction

An abstract is a summary of a research paper. It contains the most essential details of your research, including the findings, methods, and conclusion. It is meant to help readers, who are often busy scientists, decide whether they wish to read the entire article and can be especially useful in case of paywalled articles. It also helps journal editors to determine whether to consider articles for peer review.

摘要（Abstract）是对论文的总体概括，通常包含研究结果、方法、结论等精华信息。对于时间有限的科学家来说，这一小截摘要是他们判断文章是否可读的线索，也是读者考量付费文章的指标。此外，期刊编辑也会根据摘要来决定论文是否送审。

Now let us understand what purpose the Introduction serves. The Introduction is the beginning of your research paper and provides background for your research topic, helping the reader understand the motivation for conducting the study. It sets the context for your research by introducing the research topic, providing a brief overview of previously published literature, identifying the gaps or problems that existing research has failed to address, and finally introducing the problem that you intend to solve, ideally via an explicit ‘aim’ statement at the end of the introduction—more on this in the next section!

接着讲讲引言（Introduction）。引言放在文章开头，交代研究背景，有助于读者理解研究动机。具体来讲，作者要依次阐明研究主题，综述相关文献，讨论现有研究的不足，引出研究问题，最好再以研究目标结尾（研究目标下面会展开讲）。

The abstract is written to give readers a sneak peek into your research and engage their interest, and so it should briefly encapsulate the entire study; the Introduction, meanwhile, is written to provide specific context for the research question being explored, particularly for readers who may not be familiar with the specific subfield of your work.

摘要既要概括文章的主要内容，又要让读者产生读下去的兴趣。而引言则为研究问题提供详细的背景说明，方便垂直领域以外的读者理解。

One notable difference that you must keep in mind is that the abstract includes the methods and results of your research but the Introduction does not.

从结构上来看，摘要中包含的研究方法和结果两部分内容是引言中没有的。