Just about every commercial recording out there is a model, or something you can learn from simply by listening. Personally, when I was a kid, I discovered panning - although I didn't know that particular term then - when I heard Queen's Bohemian Rapsody for the first time. That blew my mind.
100% left means a part is coming all from the left speaker or earphone, with none from the right. As you lower the percentage, more of the right is mixed in, and the sound seems to come from closer to center or middle position, the lower the percentage gets to zero.
Using a control surface in Sonar helps with this, since you can just turn a knob left to move the sound left, right to move it to the right etc.
So, -100% left is entirely left. C or 0% is center or middle, equidistant between your speakers or earphones. 100% right is as you guess by now, entirely from the right speaker or earphone.
If you are not sitting in the right spot between your speakers, you cannot accurately determine where center left and right are.
Ask yourself, which is the most important part of my song? If the lyrics are important and you are trying to communicate a message, tell a story, whatever, then the vocals need to be prominent. If they are in the middle, center, they will likely be the focus of your listener's attention, assuming they are also as loud or slightly louder than the rest of your mix. Bass and drums often are in the center as well, for similar reasons. You could argue that with most current popular styles, lyrics and rhythm are most important, with melody and harmony often taking less important positions.
So, ask yourself which are the most important elements in your mix. Maybe rank things in your mind from most to least important: vocals, harmony instruments, bass, rhythm section, solos etc. Then decide where you want them placed, in terms of both volume level and position in the stereo field. Imagine the group arranged in front of you.
Like I said at the beginning, every song you hear is an example you can evaluate for your own use. Do you like where things are placed? Yes? No? Try to emulate what you like or change what you don't like in anybody else's approach to this.
You also want a nice balance with some things in the middle, some things to the sides; you don't want one side seeming more prominent than the other. Think of a tree ... straight, tall, healthy, but with lots of branches and leaves stretching in all directions out from that main trunk.
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