How can I make selected sections always start on an even page when using document class article or book?

Question

The reason I want this is as follows: I want my printed paper reports to have a results section where the result description is on the left side of a facing double page, and the results table is on the right side of the same double page. In this case the reader can see both pages simultaneously when browsing the report.

So the description page and the table page should face each other. Hence, regardless of the amount of written material before the result section, I want the result description page to start on an even page, resulting in the result table to end on the facing odd page.

My question imply that not all sections have to start on an even page, only those I want to!

Answer 1

Have a look at the changepage package and its \checkoddpage macro. You may also want to check out the UK TeX FAQ page Finding if you’re on an odd or an even page. Note that the changepage package requires (at least) two Latex runs as it works by checking the value of a pageref label.

You don't mention this explicitly, but I assume that you want the sections in question to start at the top of even-numbered (left-hand side, verso) pages rather than just anywhere on those pages. The following macro, which relies on the changepage package as well as the ifthen package, will skip ahead to the top of the next even-numbered page (insert the code in the preamble):

\usepackage{changepage,ifthen}
\newcommand\skiptoevenpage{%
   \checkoddpage
   \ifthenelse{\boolean{oddpage}}%
      {\null\clearpage}%
      {\null\clearpage \null \clearpage}%
}