in LaTeX the only two regular ways to end a paragraph are an empty line or the \par macro. Thus
|
1 2 3 4 |
The first paragraph. The second paragraph. |
and
|
1 2 |
The first paragraph.\par The second paragraph. |
is basically the same.
Please do not use \\, \newline or anything else to “end” a paragraph; it is considered to be bad style and actually wrong: From LaTeX’s point of view this only ends the line but belongs to the same paragraph. Therefore the indention or skip between paragraphs can’t work properly.