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I feel that a good model is very much like an essay - it must have a thesis statement, and then prove that thesis statement.

Most of the netlogo modelling that we have done, I feel, has been less about making good models and more about just learning how to make models.

The model that Moser and I worked on for instance, started with an idea for a model. We approached it like a programming problem - "It would be cool to have the turtle do this" and "Oh, and then we could have the patches do this!"

A good model is the opposite of this - "I wonder what would happen if you put a wolf amidst sheep." Then, from there you program the sheep and you program the wolf, using the model to "predict" how they interact.

I guess, to summarize it, a good model should use separate observations we have made to help us form conclusions about something we previously did not understand. It should tell us something.