In large documents, it is helpful to add a “mini-table-of-contents” at the beginning of every chapter in order to get a better overview of the chapter. The minitoc-package provides a nice, easy-to-use and customizable layout for TOCs on a chapter level.
How to create a minitoc:
\usepackage{minitoc}
Any minitoc can only be created if you have a “global” table-of-contents, its content is used for generation. So in your document, you first have to notify Latex you want to use minitoc and then create the overall table of contents:
\dominitoc \tableofcontents
Now you can add minitocs at the beginning of your chapters:
\chapter{...}
\minitoc
\section{...}
Minilofs and minilots:
Similarly, \minilof and minilot will create list-of-figures and list-of-tables for your chapters.
Remarks:
Obviously, this only makes sense in books and reports, as in articles there are no chapters available. Here the minitoc-package provides additional commands for articles:
\secttoc \sectlof \sectlot
and to partition books:
\parttoc \partlof \partlot
The package documentation can be found at CTAN