Writing a scholarly article is not pleasurable- more so if you’re trying to earn a degree. The drama that goes with it (Oh god, I can’t do this!) and intellectual upheaval (My brain hurts) is exacerbated by things you have to pay attention to– such as the formatting and style specifically used for your area of concentration. Since mine is Psychology I used the APA, for others it’s the MLA, etc.
More importantly though is understanding, interpreting and reporting your data and the results. My data was mostly quantitative (numbers) so I had to process it using the SPSS statistical package and this book, this book made it a lot easier. —> 
The “SPSS Survival Manual: A Step by Step Guide to Data Analysis Using SPSS for Windows (Version 15)” is sort of a book for dummies; it tells you how to code the data in SPSS, how to present it, a LITTLE of how to interpret the results and guides you through writing-up it all up in an easy to understand manner. Now, lest the university thinks of getting my degree back, I would like to point out that I used it in the dreariest of circumstances, that is, I was trying to get my thesis done within two months– and I also used my brain if that’s any comfort to you 
Another book that will be immensely helpful would be this —> 
“Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (Introducing Statistical Methods S.) (2nd Edition).” Unlike the first, it really is a statistics and SPSS book in one big volume, and also written in an clear, understandable way. I use this book to brush up on my stats from time to time because if I don’t, I’d forget everything.
For more complex statistics, you can use 
“Using Multivariate Statistics (5th Edition)” by Tabachnik and Fidell. It assumes though that you know statistical packages such as SPSS or SAS.
Nerdiness over.
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