If you want to become a Linux user and don't know, or don't want to learn what "cp" does, I'm afraid you are in for a painful ride. I suggest you start reading. And please, don't read the "man pages". They are absolute trash for begginers.
Logging in as root is bad advice. You can make all kinds of damage.
Changing permissions on directories and files with chmod is bad advice also. Same as before.
Just make sure "sudo" is properly configured (it is by default in Ubuntu), and run the commands I told you about, and try not to override important files.