Begging the question is a fallacy where one or more premises either state the conclusion (usually in slightly different words) or presupposes that the conclusion is true.(1) Since the purpose of an argument is to lay down a route leading from premises that the audience already believes or is prepared to accept on reflection to the conclusion, it is clear that one may not use as a premise in one's argument the very conclusion one is seeking to establish.(2)
A simple form of the fallacy is:
C is true because C is true.
Example:
"Opium induces sleep because it has a soporific quality".
Soporific means causing or tending to cause sleep. Restated this is like saying "Opium induces sleep because it tends to make one sleepy.
When the fallacy is committed in more than one step it is sometimes referred to as circular reasoning. It may also take the form of: A is true because of B. B is true because of A (circular reasoning).
Example:
"I once overheard three brothers dividing two candy bars. The oldest one gave each of the two younger ones half of a candy bar, and kept a whole bar for himelf. When asked why he got more candy, he said he was the smartest. A few minutes later, one of the younger ones asked why he was the smartest, and in reply the oldest said 'Because I have more candy.'" Ernest J. Chave, Personality Development in Children (Univ. of Chicago, 1937), 151.
Example:
Tom - "Do you believe in God"?
Steve - "I do".
Tom - "Why do you believe in God"?
Steve - "Because it is written in the Bible that God exists".
Tom - "Why do you believe what the bible says"?
Steve -"Because it is the word of God".
Wikipedia: Begging the Question
(1)A Practical Study of Argument
(2) Logical Self-defense
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