First, don't try pulling the timing cover, as suggested. That is not a job for a newbie. You would have to use a puller to remove the crankshaft damper, which means removing the radiator, yada. All that to check something you can check as-is. Same deal in my 69 Dart 225 when I was a newbie w/ cars and a senior in college. I was even a mechanical engineering student, but they don't teach practical things like fixing cars. My younger brother adjusted my points as a Xmas present. He was also an engineering student and took an auto repair class at a community college so was an "expert". He didn't mention that he dropped a nut down the distributor. Later, it jammed, which broke the nylon drive gear. Good it wasn't a small-block (metal gear). Our dad removed the distributor, shook out the nut and looked at my brother.
I got a new nylon gear, but didn't understand how it mounted. I recall there was no shaft hole, so I ASSumed the roll-pin on the distributor shaft was supposed to sit in the radial slot in the gear. Actually, that slot is supposed to face down, and you are supposed to know to drill a hole. It worked, but the distributor shaft popped out of the slot a week later. I was then in your position, in a parking lot 100 mi from home. I removed #1 spark plug, cranked the engine until I felt compression pressure then turned slowly by hand until the crank mark was at 5 deg BTDC. BTW, you can turn a slant over by hand by pulling & pushing on the fan belt. Installed the distributor so the rotor pointed at #1 post. Note, that the rotor turns as you lower it (slanted gear teeth), so use windage for that. Engine fired right up and I adjusted distributor for fastest idle. Same thing happened 1000 mi later. I was so frustrated, I bought a new distributor, which came w/ a nylon gear, and then I saw how it was supposed attach. Hope that long story helps you.
If the distributor has a single wire, it is points distributor. The only "system" w/ points is the coil. An e-distributor has a 2-wire pickup w/ connector and the system has an ECU module in addition to the coil. With points, you must adjust the gap (sets dwell), which means you must know what the points look like (google images).