def _ensure_term(where, scope_level):
    """
    ensure that the where is a Term or a list of Term
    this makes sure that we are capturing the scope of variables
    that are passed
    create the terms here with a frame_level=2 (we are 2 levels down)
    """

    # only consider list/tuple here as an ndarray is automatically a coordinate
    # list
    level = scope_level + 1
    if isinstance(where, (list, tuple)):
        wlist = []
        for w in filter(lambda x: x is not None, where):
            if not maybe_expression(w):
                wlist.append(w)
            else:
                wlist.append(Term(w, scope_level=level))
        where = wlist
    elif maybe_expression(where):
        where = Term(where, scope_level=level)
    return where