How do I set up my query to get its criteria from a form or dialog box that pops up when I run the query.

The criteria in your query is the contents of the dialog box. Use the expression builder to properly buiild the reference to the dialog box.

What do I put in the criteria field to make the form popup when I run the query?

The dialog box should run the query, not vice versa.
Set up a form containing all your criteria entry boxes, combos etc, plus a run query command button.
The On_Click event code of the button should be :

DoCmd.OpenQuery "QueryName", acViewNormal
DoCmd.Close acForm, "DialogFormName"

While the form is open, open the query as well, then go into the Builder. Under Forms, Loaded Forms you will find all the controls on your Dialog Form, thus you can make the query get the values from the form when the query runs.