This topic is full of people with LOs this age who are at the end of their ropes!
You and your partner obviously need sleep and that is a perfectly acceptable reason to do this but from what you have described it sounds like your LO is overtired. That is the best reason to resort to tough love. Our DD is 11.5 months and we sleep trained when she was closer to your LO's age. She sleeps longer and better now.
My main recommendation is to find a plan and stick with it. There isn't a plan that will be perfect but you need to be consistent. As you follow your plan you will be able to make adjustments when you see what works, what doesn't work, but make sure you do those things slowly and carefully without being inconsistent. I think the plan is important for the parents it's easy to get upset when LO is crying and feel like you don't know what to do a plan tells you!
The plan we used was The SleepEasy Solution. You don't necessarily need a book -- you just need to decide what to do and do it. (I would recommend this book, though.)
That being said, the plan should be simple. You do a bedtime ritual and put LO down in her cot. Say good night and leave!
Make sure you time the intervals exactly at first. I used 5, 10 and then 15 but you could make it 20 if you think that'll be better. (Later, when you've cracked it, you will probably be able to do this by feel rather than the clock.) Progressing to longer intervals over several days is probably good, too. Just pick one and go with it.
When you do your checks, don't touch your baby but use your voice to soothe her. Don't stay more than 30 seconds. (The one exception I make to this is I might lay her back down if she is sitting or standing up.) I don't make eye contact. Sometimes I just go to the door of her room and say, "DD, it's time to rest. It's time to sleep."
Be boring so there's no "reward" to waking up.
If she sounds like she's quieting down, consider skipping the check. If she starts up again, crying properly, start timing the interval again.
I would suggest doing bedtime as the first try at CC. Nighttime sleep is a lot easier to fix. If she has had her normal naps (however you do them) she will be best prepared to learn a new way to fall asleep.
The next day, start using your plan on the naps. Naps take longer to sort out so don't be discouraged if it takes a week or so. At her age your DD probably needs 2 naps -- one about 2.5 hours after waking up in the morning and then again about 3 hours after waking from morning nap.
I don't know about dummies but my instinct is to not bother with it. If you're doing the tough work of sleep training, you might as well fix all the problems at once.
Obviously don't start this when LO is ill, cutting a tooth, or hitting a developmental milestone (like standing up, etc.).
CC worked better than anything else we had tried and it resulted in way less crying. It is so nice to lay her down and leave, knowing that she knows how to settle herself to sleep.
Sorry I've written an essay -- good luck!