If your thesis statement is going to guide the entire project, you must look at developing a good thesis as a challenge of reducing the entire point of your paper into one sentence. Hallmarks of a thesis that will guide you and your professor or reading audience are clarity and conciseness. Your thesis is not the appropriate format in which to show off a loquacious writing style.
Once you have a statement that encapsulates what you hope to prove in your paper, you've accomplished two things. You'll have a checkpoint of which to check the rest of your paper against. Is everything you've written able to be tied back to the thesis in a logical and cohesive way? Also, you'll have set expectations for your readers: they'll know what point you plan on arguing or information that you plan on sharing.
The first paragraph of your paper should be used to build suspense and create curiosity that will compel the reader to keep reading. Leading up to your thesis statement, which should be at the end of this paragraph, your readers should be confronted with questions and allusions that will get their minds turning in the direction that you hope to take them through your entire paper. This build-up should be answered smoothly by your thesis statement.
Your thesis will shape the rest of your paper. If your thesis states, "Strawberry ice cream is the best kind because it is pink, it tastes like the best berry known to humankind and it's a refreshing departure from more conventional flavors," your paper will have three paragraphs following the first. One paragraph will contain your arguments and evidence for what the color pink has to do with making an ice cream flavor superior and so on and so forth down your key points.
Freshen your thesis with the new evidence that you've used to prove it. Summarize the content of your paper with a strong statement that will leave a lasting impression and most important, leave the reader in agreement with your thesis.