If you're knitting row after row of knit stitches, they will look like purl bumps. You're actually knitting a pattern called garter stitch.
It can be done by knitting every row or purling every row and it will all turn out the same.
If you want your work to look like knit Vs on one side, you need to alternate one row knit stitches and one row purl stitches. Then you'll see the V pattern on one side and the purl bumps on the other side.
There is no continental stitch - that's a style of knitting that holds the yarn in the left hand rather than the right hand which is english style. The back of a knit stitch is a purl though, and the back of a purl is a knit. If you look at the row you just knit you'll see the Vs of the knit stitch. If you knit several rows and stretch them lengthwise you'll see the Vs in the valleys between the purl ridges.That's called garter stitch and is what you get when you knit or purl all the rows. To get the knits on one side and purls on the other side you have to alternate a knit row with a purl row.
I'm a left-handed continental knitter. It also took me a while to figure out what style of knitting I was comfortable with. There are lots of video tutorials that I found very helpful. I find continental knitting faster than english style, but what's important is that that you find the style that makes you comfortable.