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Paragraphs

How LaTeX handles lines and paragraphs — one sentence per line, paragraphs via blank lines.

Rendered LaTeX output
One sentence per line.
This rule is important for the usage of version control systems.
A new line is generated with a blank line.
As you would do in Word:
New paragraphs are generated by pressing enter.
In LaTeX, this does not lead to a new paragraph as LaTeX joins subsequent lines.
In case you want a new paragraph, just press enter twice!
This leads to an empty line.
In word, there is the functionality to press shift and enter.
This leads to a hard line break.
The text starts at the beginning of a new line.
In LaTeX, you can do that by using two backslashes (\textbackslash\textbackslash).
\\
This is rarely used.

Please do \textit{not} use two backslashes for new paragraphs.
For instance, this sentence belongs to the same paragraph, whereas the last one started a new one.
A long motivation for that is provided at \url{http://loopspace.mathforge.org/HowDidIDoThat/TeX/VCS/#section.3}.