Trouble with Permalinks

I have just joined word press and have an issue which I am hoping someone can help me with. I have read pages and pages of instructions on how to sort permalinks out and am now very frustrated.

I have changed file permissions, added an .htaccess file to my word press folder and tried several other suggestions but still can;t get the permalinks to change and show once published. I would like to be able to have my post title as part of the page rather than the default setting which isn;t very search engine friendly.

Could someone help me out please? Thanks in advance