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: 
Since you are already using [`titlesec`](http://www.ctan.org/pkg/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}

```
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.