I'm hoping that someone can explain the folders that come setup on my web host site.

I have the following folders:

access-logs
etc
mail
public_ftp
public_html
tmp
www

I know public_html is where I actually need to host my site from and I have a decent idea of access-logs and mail folders are for. I've also heard that www basically points toward public_html so they act the same.

You are correct.
To continue:
°etc: configuration files
°tmp: temporary files (upload for example)

WWW is what is called a "soft link" to public_html.
It means that it's a shortcut, but it react the same way as it was not.

Be careful, some peoples had deleted the public_html because they thought that the www folder contained the served content, and had white hairs when they had seen the content of www go away at the same time.

Public_html folder should be used to upload folders.

Thanks Tripy