sharing folders

All I want to do is share a folder so it can be accessed over a local network. So far I havent figured out where the option is to share a folder. Ive seen the option under "sharing" on the system preferences and that seems to allow me to share things. How can I pick which folder I want to share? For example on windows I just right click a folder>properties then select the sharing tab and share the folder and set the permissions.
On my linux PC I can see my mac on the local network, but thats all I can do, theres no shared folders or drives because I dont know how to share them in mac! Can anyone help me out?