Since you don't have an assigned book, we've compiled some references from the Web here that ought to be useful in introducing you to the language and its features. Probably most of you will find this to be very easy to learn if you don't already know it.
If you are looking to buy a Java book we highly recommend CoreJava 2 by Horstmann and Cornell, Sun Microsystems Press/Prentice Hall. There are two volumes to this text--the first is about the basic Java language and the second is about more advanced features. A third book in the series, Graphic Java covers the use of the AWT libraries. There are several further books in the series.
The first link is the most highly recommended. These few tutorials are among the better of the many that are out there.
The page above is a link to several helpful Java
pages on many different areas. Explore it! The
"Java Tutorial" link on the lower part of the page
is especially useful. Explore it too! For some
help on the AWT, look at the Trail Map of that tutorial
and go to Creating A User Interface. Most of what you
need is there. It may help to look at the Table of
Contents (a link in the upper right corner).
The first link is probabaly your best on-line source for
getting to know Java. Any fairly short (<200pgs.) paperback
book on Java, if it covers the AWT, will also suffice, should
you choose to own one.