Sstrhsrtj

I'm trying to write my personal statement, and I used some new packages to format it. I can't figure out why it won't let me indent the paragraphs. I've tried par, hspace, etc, but I've had no luck. Below I've posted the preamble and what the beginning of the statement looks like.

    documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}

    usepackage{marvosym}

    usepackage{fontspec}                   

    usepackage{xunicode,xltxtra,url,parskip} 

    RequirePackage{color,graphicx}

    usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames]{xcolor}

    usepackage[big]{layaureo} 

    usepackage{titlesec}   

    usepackage{setspace}

    usepackage{hyperref}

    definecolor{linkcolour}{rgb}{0,0.2,0.6}

    hypersetup{colorlinks,breaklinks,urlcolor=linkcolour, linkcolor=linkcolour}

    usepackage{array}

    usepackage{indentfirst}

    setlengthparindent{24pt}



    defaultfontfeatures{Mapping=tex-text}

    setmainfont[

    SmallCapsFont = Fontin-SmallCaps.otf,

    BoldFont = Fontin-Bold.otf,

    ItalicFont = Fontin-Italic.otf

    ]

    {Fontin.otf}





    titleformat{section}{Largescshaperaggedright}{}{0em}{}[titlerule]

    titlespacing{section}{0pt}{3pt}{3pt}

    usepackage{geometry}

    geometry{top=0.75in,bottom=0.75in,left=0.75in,right=0.75in} 



    begin{document}

    %Beginning of the statement

    begin{doublespace}

    normalsize

    This is the first sentence of the personal statement. 

    end{doublespace}

    end{document}

Well, with a little changing of the order of calling packages and adding some text and a section I see indentiation ...

Please see the following MWE (please see I commented your used font I have not installed):

documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}



usepackage{marvosym}

usepackage{fontspec}                   

usepackage{xunicode,xltxtra,url,parskip} 

usepackage{color,graphicx}

usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames]{xcolor}

usepackage[big]{layaureo} % <==========================================??

usepackage{titlesec}   

usepackage{setspace}



usepackage{blindtext}





usepackage{array}

usepackage{indentfirst}



usepackage{geometry}

geometry{top=0.75in,bottom=0.75in,left=0.75in,right=0.75in} 



usepackage{hyperref}



definecolor{linkcolour}{rgb}{0,0.2,0.6}

hypersetup{colorlinks,breaklinks,urlcolor=linkcolour, linkcolor=linkcolour}



setlengthparindent{24pt}



defaultfontfeatures{Mapping=tex-text}

    %setmainfont[

    %SmallCapsFont = Fontin-SmallCaps.otf,

    %BoldFont = Fontin-Bold.otf,

    %ItalicFont = Fontin-Italic.otf

    %]

    %{Fontin.otf}





    titleformat{section}{Largescshaperaggedright}{}{0em}{}[titlerule]

    titlespacing{section}{0pt}{3pt}{3pt}





begin{document}

    %Beginning of the statement

section{Test}

blindtext 



begin{doublespace}

normalsize

This is the first sentence of the personal statement. 

end{doublespace}



blindtext

end{document}

the following result:

Please see that package hyperref should be called last in your case ...