If you're interested in this I suggest you get the reference manuals for one of the simpler 8 bitters (6502, 6800, 6809, Z80 or 8051) and have a look at the block schematic for the cpu.

here is the 6809 (my favourite of the ones above):

http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/documents/chipdata/68...

You could go several routes to make one, first build a software simulator so you have something to validate your design with, then either use an FPGA or use wire wrapping like the author of the OA did (that's possible but also very very time consuming, and if a cpu is your first project is going to be a very frustrating experience).

I've heard good reports about "The elements of computing systems"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262640686?ie=UTF8&tag=...

Theres a tech talk about the book:

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=765404376202115650...

If your tysk is still fresh, try Keller&Paul[1]. It was the text for my second-semester hardware course, in which we "built" a real processor from 74somethings. "built" because we didn't really touch hardware, we just looked at schematics and computed timings.

[1] http://books.google.com/books?id=u5kIA7iyfl4C&lpg=PA276&...

I suspect your university library will have more than enough subject matter about the theory.

http://www.timefracture.org/D16docs/wire_wrap.html describes the practice of wire-wrapping, the technique used here.