This is really a latex question, but I hope someone can answer anyway.
I redefine sections with the latex preamble
\newcommand{\tmpsection}[1]{}
\let\tmpsection=\section
\renewcommand{\section}[1]{\vspace{-0.15in}\tmpsection{#1}\vspace{-0.1in}}It works as it's supposed to, but it makes latex unable to make a table of contents, and the 'references' heading comes out strangely (7 * in large and then references in small on the next line). What do I do wrong?
