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The Written Argument

Your thesis statement represents your stance on the issue, and  must be clear, precise, and well defined. For example, "George Washington was a good leader" is too general and would not make a good thesis statement. It's not particularly controversial either. A better thesis statement would be, "Abraham Lincoln, who was a war-time leader, is the greatest leader this nation has seen to date."  Now that sets the boundaries of the comparison. He's being compared with some of the greatest leaders in presidential history. Do you see how this can be narrowed even further?  Perhaps he was the greatest  nineteenth-century leader? Use your pre-writing to sharpen the focus of your thesis.