I'm a newbie to Pathfinder and the general D&D 3.x area, having only played a small number of sessions ever. Following a recent question I dove into the touch attack rules, since I realised I didn't know how they worked, having never seen them in use. What I have learned is: I have absolutely no idea how to even begin finding out how they work.
Combat: Touch Attacks says:
Some attacks completely disregard armor, including shields and natural armor—the aggressor need only touch a foe for such an attack to take full effect. In these cases, the attacker makes a touch attack roll (either ranged or melee).
No mention of how to make a touch attack roll, though. Range: Touch doesn't really explain anything at all. The Core Rulebook itself doesn't clarify anything in the spaces I've looked - there's nothing named 'touch attack' under the Attacks section in Combat, and the 'Touch spells in combat' thing doesn't explain much about the actual process involved.
For a moment I thought "hey, maybe touch attacks aren't actually a thing, since touch spells just discharge when you touch someone, so you can just make an unarmed attack and pow!" — then I read a comment within the above linked question:
An unarmed strike and a touch attack, while closely related, are different things (although one can combine the two).
So, I have no idea how someone makes a touch attack, and I have no idea how anyone knows how to make a touch attack, because I can find nothing on it beyond instructions to make one.
How do I make a touch attack? What's the actual process involved? What modifiers do I apply, if any?
And where, exactly, are the actual instructions on doing it?