Question

How do you use a dichotomous key to discover the scientific name of an organism

Answer 1

You start by answering the first question on the list which tells you what to do from there. Pretend your animal was a bird, you might have a key like this:

Does this animal have wings?
yes                   go to question 2
no                    go to question 6

Then you just continue until the list doesn't say to do anything else. i.e.:

Is the animal feathered?
yes                  bird
no                    go to question 4