Add vertical space into a chapter

Question

I need to add extra vertical space before a particular chapter heading, for example "list of tables". I wanna do this because the space before some of the chapter headings are less than rest of the chapters. I tried adding \vspace*{1in} before \listoftables statement, but it did not work. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

\documentclass[10pt, letterpaper]{report}
\usepackage{thesis}
\renewcommand\contentsname{TABLE OF CONTENTS}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\renewcommand{\chaptername}{CHAPTER}
\titlespacing*{\chapter}{0pt}{0.45in}{0.3in}
\titleformat{\chapter}[display]
        {\normalfont\Large\centering}{\chaptertitlename\ \thechapter}{0pt}{\Large\uppercase}
\titleformat{\section}{\large\bfseries}{\thesection}{1em}{}



\begin{document}
\tableofcontents

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{LIST OF TABLES}
\renewcommand{\listtablename}{LIST OF TABLES}
\listoftables

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{LIST  OF FIGURES}
\renewcommand{\listfigurename}{LIST  OF FIGURES}
\listoffigures


\chapter{INTRODUCTION}
Lorem ipsum .............
\end{document}

Answer 1

Since you are already using titlesec, use \titlespacing* to add the extra space just before \listoftables and then use the command again to restore the default vertical spacing:

\documentclass[10pt, letterpaper]{report}
\usepackage{thesis} % to make the example compilable for everyone
\renewcommand\contentsname{TABLE OF CONTENTS}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\renewcommand{\chaptername}{CHAPTER}
\titlespacing*{\chapter}{0pt}{0.45in}{0.3in}
\titleformat{\chapter}[display]
        {\normalfont\Large\centering}{\chaptertitlename\ \thechapter}{0pt}{\Large\uppercase}
\titleformat{\section}{\large\bfseries}{\thesection}{1em}{}

\begin{document}
\tableofcontents

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{LIST OF TABLES}
\renewcommand{\listtablename}{LIST OF TABLES}
\titlespacing*{\chapter}{0pt}{1.45in}{0.3in}% add extra vertical spacing
\listoftables

\titlespacing*{\chapter}{0pt}{0.45in}{0.3in}% restore original vertical spacing
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{LIST  OF FIGURES}
\renewcommand{\listfigurename}{LIST  OF FIGURES}
\listoffigures


\chapter{INTRODUCTION}
Lorem ipsum .............
\end{document}

Answer 2

In ConTeXt, you can achieve something similar to Mico's approach as follows:

\definehead[tocchapter][chapter][before={\blank[1in, force]}]

This defines a new heading called tocchapter which inherits all its settings from chapter, and then redefines the space before the chapter heading. The force in the argument of \blank is needed to force \vskip at the top of the page. You can use this command as follows.

\showframe % To visualize the page frame.
\starttext
\tocchapter{List of Tables}
\placelistoftables[criterium=all]

\chapter {Normal chapter}
\dorecurse{4}
    {\startplacetable[title={Table #1}]
        \startTABLE
            \NC One \NC Two \NC \NR
            \NC One \NC Two \NC \NR
            \NC One \NC Two \NC \NR
        \stopTABLE
     \stopplacetable
     \input knuth \relax}
\stoptext

Note that I use \placelistoftables which does not place a chapter heading instead of \completelistoftables which does.

Answer 3

You could take a two-stage approach: First, define a new, chapter-like sectioning command that instructs LaTeX to leave greater-than-normal amounts of whitespace above and below the sectioning lines and second, redefine the \listoftables and \listoffigures commands to employ this special sectioning command.

Using the report class as a starting point, you can execute this approach as shown in the MWE below. The new commands are called, somewhat longwindedly, \chapterwithextraspace and \chapterwithextraspace*, to create numbered and unnumbered chapters that have more vertical whitespace than the "standard" commands do. You are of course free to revise the code to select a snappier name. Since you didn't indicate just how much more vertical whitespace you want to create, I've simply doubled the default amounts for this MWE (from 50pt to 100pt above the sectioning line, and from 40pt to 80pt below the sectioning line). You should probably adjust these amounts to suit your specific needs.

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{etoolbox,lipsum} % lipsum for filler text
% Part 1: Define new command \chapterwithextraspace and 
%   several required auxilliary macros
\makeatletter
\newcommand\chapterwithextraspace{\if@openright\cleardoublepage\else\clearpage\fi
                    \thispagestyle{plain}%
                    \global\@topnum\z@
                    \@afterindentfalse
                    \secdef\@chapterwithextraspace\@schapterwithextraspace}
\def\@chapterwithextraspace[#1]#2{\ifnum \c@secnumdepth >\m@ne
                         \refstepcounter{chapter}%
                         \typeout{\@chapapp\space\thechapter.}%
                         \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}%
                                   {\protect\numberline{\thechapter}#1}%
                    \else
                      \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{#1}%
                    \fi
                    \chaptermark{#1}%
                    \addtocontents{lof}{\protect\addvspace{10\p@}}%
                    \addtocontents{lot}{\protect\addvspace{10\p@}}%
                    \if@twocolumn
                      \@topnewpage[\@makechapterwithextraspacehead{#2}]%
                    \else
                      \@makechapterwithextraspacehead{#2}%
                      \@afterheading
                    \fi}
\def\@makechapterwithextraspacehead#1{%
  \vspace*{100\p@}%  %default: 50\p@
  {\parindent \z@ \raggedright \normalfont
    \ifnum \c@secnumdepth >\m@ne
        \huge\bfseries \@chapapp\space \thechapter
        \par\nobreak
        \vskip 20\p@
    \fi
    \interlinepenalty\@M
    \Huge \bfseries #1\par\nobreak
    \vskip 80\p@ %default: 40\p@
  }}
\def\@schapterwithextraspace#1{\if@twocolumn
                   \@topnewpage[\@makeschapterwithextraspacehead{#1}]%
                 \else
                   \@makeschapterwithextraspacehead{#1}%
                   \@afterheading
                 \fi}
\def\@makeschapterwithextraspacehead#1{%
  \vspace*{100\p@}% %default: 50\p@
  {\parindent \z@ \raggedright
    \normalfont
    \interlinepenalty\@M
    \Huge \bfseries  #1\par\nobreak
    \vskip 80\p@ %default: 40\p@
  }}
\makeatother

% Part 2: Patch the `\listoffigures` and `\listoftables` commands to use the new,
%   spaced-out chapter heading style
\patchcmd{\listoffigures}%
    {\chapter*}{\chapterwithextraspace*}{}{}
\patchcmd{\listoftables}%
    {\chapter*}{\chapterwithextraspace*}{}{}

\begin{document}

\tableofcontents
\listoftables
\listoffigures

\chapter{Hello}  %normal chapter header
\lipsum[1]

\chapterwithextraspace{Goodbye} %chapter header with extra space above and below header lines
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}