How to Add a Blank Line in WordPress

I don’t know if it is a problem with my current theme, or what else caused it, but there is no blank line after an unordered list and a following paragraph that makes it look like the following line belongs to the list like so:

• item 1
• item 2

Not part of the list.

The quickest and easiest solution (I read about it here) seems to be to hit the code-button twice in a row like so : < code > < /code > (without the spaces). This results in the desired layout:

• item 1
• item 2

Not part of the list.