In asking "What is ...." kind of questions I can't think of an example where you wouldn't need either a definite or indefinite article in French. -- Chris (not a native speaker).

Thanks. I think what I’m actually confused about but didn’t state it well, is when to use ...que c’est? And when to use only ...que? I.e. the difference between Qu’est-ce que...(le stylo)? and Qu’est-ce que c’est (le stylo)? I keep getting them incorrect and i find the explanation in the ‘explain this’ section to not be very clear/helpful.