The texts contain many explanations or definitions of concepts. You can often find the definition in the same sentence, or in the following sentence, where the concept is used.

The purpose of a definition is to explain precisely what something is or what kind of thing it is, and to which group or concept it belongs. A definition consists of three parts:

• the concept being defined
• the category of the concept or its group
• the essential characteristic that distinguishes the defined concept from others.

For example, a referendum is defined as a type of voting (a category, group or overarching concept to which a referendum also belongs) in which a citizen can express their opinion directly, rather than through a representative (essential characteristics that distinguish a referendum from other voting methods).