Formatting in LaTeX (positioning of longtable)

Question

I am new in LaTeX and I am in the learning phase. I am making a document on it, but the problem is that its formatting is incorrect as I compile the source code of the LaTeX. Like I am making a table and it inserted in between the item list and I am making it after the list. I don't know why it is doing this. Secondly if I remove some of the item list, the table goes on the next page but in the end of the page leaving the above potion blank. I searched a lot but can't find the suitable answer.

This is my code:

\documentclass{report}
\begin{document}

   \include{criterion1}

\end{document}

in criterion chapter I have

\begin{itemize}

  \item  4 items here  

   \begin{itemize}
    \item 8 item here
  \end{itemize}
\end{itemize}

if I put table after this

\begin{table}

\centering

 \caption{correlation between objectives and features of the program}

    \begin{longtable}{|c|p{3in}|}

  \end{longtable} 
\end{table}

It went wrong in a seance that it comes either in between the 2nd nested item list or goes on the next page but in the middle of it leaving the whole page blank.

Answer 1

If you need to use longtable, just use longtable:

\RequirePackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents}{criterion1}
  \begin{itemize}
    \item 4 items here
    \item 4 items here
    \item 4 items here
    \item 4 items here

      \begin{itemize}
        \item 8 item here
        \item 8 item here
        \item 8 item here
        \item 8 item here
        \item 8 item here
        \item 8 item here
        \item 8 item here
        \item 8 item here
      \end{itemize}
   \end{itemize}

  \begin{longtable}{|c|p{3in}|}
    \caption{correlation between objectives and features of the program}\\
    cell one & cell two\\
  \end{longtable}
\end{filecontents}
%
\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{longtable}
\begin{document}

   \include{criterion1}% NB: \include will start a new page if there
%   \input{criterion1}%      is anything preceding it; \input won't

\end{document}