Tissue Types
A. Does the tissue have a free surface (part of cell exposed to body exterior or organ cavity)
Yes - epithelium
No - connective tissue, muscle tissue, or nervous tissue
Is there a single, distinct layer of cells?
No - pseudostratified or stratified epithelium
Yes - simple epithelium
Do the cells appear flat, with little cytoplasm around the nucleus?
Yes - simple squamous epithelium 
No - simple cuboidal or simple columnar epithelium
Do the cells appear to be predominantly columnar, but adjacent cells are of different height with nuclei staggered up and down?
Do the cells appear square, with a round nucleus near the center?
No - simple columnar epithelium
Yes - simple cuboidal epithelium
Do the cells appear rectangular, with an oval nucleus near the middle or toward the side furthest from the free surface?
No - reconsider the previous options
Yes - simple columnar epithelium
Are there cilia (fine, hairlike projections from certain cells) at the apical surface?
No - simple columnar epithelium
Yes - ciliated simple columnar epithelium
B. Do you see relatively few cells that appear to be separated by extracellular material?
No - stratified epithelium
Yes - pseudostratified epithelium
Are there cilia at the apical surface?
Yes - ciliated pseudostratified columnar epithelium
Psuedostratified columnar epithelium
Given that you are looking at stratified epithelium, Do the cells at the apical (free) surface appear flat, with little cytoplasm around the nucleus or with no visible nucleus?
No - stratified cuboidal or stratified columnar epithelium
Yes - stratified squamous epithelium
Do the cells at the apical surface contain nuclei?
Yes - keratinized stratified squamous epithelium
No - nonkeratinized stratified squamous epithelium
Do the cells at the apical surface appear square, with a round nucleus near the center?
No - stratified columnar epithelium
Yes - stratified cuboidal epithelium
Do the cells near the apical surface appear rectangular, with an oval nucleus near the middle or toward the side furthest from the free surface?
Yes - stratified columnar epithelium
No - transitional epithelium
Are there cilia at the apical surface?
Yes - ciliated stratified columnar epithelium
No - stratified columnar epithelium
Do the cells at the apical surface appear dome-shaped?
No - reconsider the previous options
Yes - transitional epithelium
No - muscle tissue or nervous tissue
Yes - connective tissue or nervous tissue
C. Do there appear to be hot dog bun-shaped structures lined up end to end?
Do you see large cell shaped like a many-pointed star surrounded by many smaller cells?
Yes - nervous tissue
No - connective tissue
Do you see concave cells with no apparent nucleus?
No - connective tissue proper, cartilage, or bone
Yes - blood connective tissue
Are there lacunae?
No - connective tissue proper
Yes - cartilage or bone
Are the lacunae arranged in concentric rings, like a target?
Are there large, round cells with their nuclei pushed to the outside and a big empty appearing space in the center of the cell?
No - cartilage
Yes - bone/osseous connective tissue
Given that, you are looking at cartilage, are fibers visible in the matrix?
No - hyaline cartilage
Yes - elastic cartilage or fibrocartilage
Are the fibers fairly organized with a low density of lacunae (a cavity or depression)?
Yes - fibrocartilage
No - elastic cartilage
No - areolar or dense regular connective tissue
Yes - adipose connective tissue
Are the extracellular fibers loosely packed with a visible amount of space between adjacent fibers?
No - dense regular connective tissue
Yes - areolar connective tissue
No - muscle
D. Do the cells lack striations?
Yes - nervous tissue
Yes - smooth muscle
No - skeletal or cardiac muscle
Do you see intercalated disks?
No - skeletal muscle
Yes - cardiac muscle