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Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
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Description:

def _request_get_helper(self, url, params=None):
        '''API GET request helper'''
        if not isinstance(params, dict):
            params = dict()

        if self.api_key:
            params['api_key'] = self.api_key
        return requests.get(url, params=params, timeout=60)