How do I put list of figures and list of tables on separate pages?

Question

When I put \usepackage{tocloft} in the preamble the pages that had list of figures and list of tables have been shifted forward. List of figures now starts on the contents page and list of tables starts on the list of figures page.

Answer 1

With tocloft, the ToC, the LoT and the LoF don't start new pages when using document classes in which without the package they normally would do. If you want the lists to start a new page, you have two options:

1. Manually issue a \cleardoublepage command. For example:

    \documentclass{book}
    \usepackage{tocloft}
   
    \begin{document}
   
    \tableofcontents
    \cleardoublepage
    \listoffigures
    \cleardoublepage
    \listoftables
    \cleardoublepage
   
    \end{document}
   

2. Use the titles package option:

    \documentclass{book}
    \usepackage[titles]{tocloft}
   
    \begin{document}
   
    \tableofcontents
    \listoffigures
    \listoftables
   
    \end{document}
   

The difference between both approaches is that the second one will make the titles of the ToC, LoT and LoF to follow any possible modification made to the formatting of the sectional unit producing the titles.