For the longest time during my research and printing of my labreports I've been drawing chemical compounds by hand. I'll have to admit that I'm not the best artist in the world. Luckily, I found some great programs for you researchers and students.
The first is MiniTab. MiniTab is a freeware type of software best used when calculating statistics. It's easy to use and makes couting and manipulating data for several different populations a breeze. It is quite reminiscent of Excel except in the fact that it's much more focused mathematically.
The second I'd like to share is ChemDraw. Now the really nice thing about ChemDraw is that it will fulfill your basic needs to draw compounds even within its trial version. You're able to draw carbon chains with the click of a mouse and it's even easier when commonly found organic substituents are buttons on the toolbar.
Have fun! It really makes your research and laboratory reports that much more professional. It's a great addition for any university student's notebook.
Yeah, that's right. It is that cool.