Answer: I hope this helps you! :3
Explanation:
Step 1: List down the characteristics
Pay attention to the specimens you are trying to identify with your dichotomous key. List down the characteristics that you can notice. For example, say you are trying to classify a group of animals. You may notice that some have feathers whereas others have legs, or some have long tails and others don’t.
Step 2: Organize the characteristics in order
When creating your dichotomous key, you need to start with the most general characteristics first, before moving to the more specific ones. So it helps to have identified the more obvious and less obvious contrasting characteristics among the specimen before creating your dichotomous key.
Step 3: Divide the specimens
You can use statements (i.e. has feathers and no feathers) or questions (does it have feathers?) to divide your specimens into two groups. The first differentiation should be made on the most general characteristic.
Step 4: Divide the specimen even further
Based on the next contrasting characteristic, divide the specimen further. For example, first, you may have grouped your animals as have feathers and have no feathers, in which case the ones with feathers can be categorized as birds while you can further subdivide the ones that have no feathers as having fur and having no fur. Continue to subdivide your specimen by asking enough questions until you have identified and named all of them.
Step 5: Draw a dichotomous key diagram
You can either create a text-based dichotomous key or a graphical one where you can even use images of the specimen you are trying to identify. Here you can use a tree diagram or a flowchart as in the examples below.
Step 6: Test it out
Once you have completed your dichotomous key, test it out to see if it works. Focus on the specimen you are trying to identify and go through the questions in your dichotomous tree to see if you get it identified at the end. If you think the questions in your dichotomous key needs to be rearranged, make the necessary adjustments.
