diff --git a/src/app/db/data.ts b/src/app/db/data.ts
index 8ff92a3..a909d4a 100644
--- a/src/app/db/data.ts
+++ b/src/app/db/data.ts
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ export interface DocumentManifest {
   status: DocumentStatus
   reviewers?: reviewer[]
 }
-export const documents: { [key: string]: Document } = {
+export const documents: Readonly<{ [key: string]: Document }> = {
   'day-5-principles': {
     manifest: {
       title: 'Day 5 Principles',
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ export interface Topic {
   description: string
   wiki: string
 }
-export const topics: { [key: string]: Topic } = {
+export const topics: Readonly<{ [key: string]: Topic }> = {
   frc: {
     name: 'FIRST Robotics Competition',
     description:
@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@ export interface Author {
   bio?: string
   website?: string
 }
-export const authors: { [key: string]: Author } = {
+export const authors: Readonly<{ [key: string]: Author }> = {
   shasan: {
     name: {
       first: 'Saim',
@@ -533,7 +533,7 @@ export interface Affiliation {
   description: string
 }
 
-export const affiliations: { [key: string]: Affiliation } = {
+export const affiliations: Readonly<{ [key: string]: Affiliation }> = {
   '1280-mech': {
     name: "Team 1280, the Ragin' C Biscuits, Mechanical Subteam",
     short: '1280 Mech',
@@ -689,7 +689,7 @@ export interface Nationality {
   demonym: string
   flag: string
 }
-export const nationalities: { [key: string]: Nationality } = {
+export const nationalities: Readonly<{ [key: string]: Nationality }> = {
   pak: {
     name: 'Pakistan',
     demonym: 'Pakistani',
diff --git a/src/app/search/page.tsx b/src/app/search/page.tsx
index 97e76f1..e1d0890 100644
--- a/src/app/search/page.tsx
+++ b/src/app/search/page.tsx
@@ -19,6 +19,15 @@ const SearchResult = ({
   const { manifest, abstract, id } = result
   const { title, authors, topics, dates, status, type } = manifest
 
+  /* 
+  this is not a recommended design pattern for creating a clickable object,
+  as it's terrible for accessibility. we should add accessibility tags to make it
+  recognizable as a clickable item.
+  the reason we aren't simply wrapping the search result in a <Link> tag is because
+  React does not support nested <a> tags and it overrides the links displayed inside.
+  this click handling logic simply checks to see if the element clicked is a nested link
+  and fires a redirect if not, to avoid overriding links in the children
+  */
   const handleClick = (event: React.MouseEvent<HTMLDivElement>) => {
     let target = event.target as HTMLElement
     while (target != null) {
diff --git a/src/app/utils/search.worker.ts b/src/app/utils/search.worker.ts
index b3977e8..b8f2820 100644
--- a/src/app/utils/search.worker.ts
+++ b/src/app/utils/search.worker.ts
@@ -1,29 +1,61 @@
-import { documents } from '@/app/db/data'
+import { documents, authors, affiliations, topics } from '@/app/db/data'
 import MiniSearch from 'minisearch'
 import { CustomSearchResult } from './searchDocs'
 
+// converting the documents object into an array that can be index by minisearch
 const docs = Object.entries(documents).map(([key, value]) => ({
   id: key,
   keywords: value.manifest.keywords.join(' '),
   abstract: value.abstract,
-  topics: value.manifest.topics.join(' '),
-  authors: value.manifest.authors.join(' '),
+  topics: value.manifest.topics
+    .map((topicId) => topics[topicId])
+    .map((topic) => topic.name)
+    .join(' '),
+  authors: value.manifest.authors // pull out author data from the user id
+    .map((authorId) => authors[authorId])
+    .map(
+      (author) =>
+        `${author.name.first} ${author.name.last} ${author.name.nickname}`
+    )
+    .join(' '),
   title: value.manifest.title,
   manifest: value.manifest,
   type: value.manifest.type,
+  affiliations: value.manifest.authors // pull the affiliation metadata from the author data
+    .map((authorId) => authors[authorId])
+    .map((author) => author.affiliation)
+    .map((affiliationId) =>
+      affiliationId
+        .map(
+          (af) =>
+            `${affiliations[af.split('@')[1]].name} ${affiliations[af.split('@')[1]].short}`
+        )
+        .join(' ')
+    )
+    .join(' '),
+  key: key,
 }))
 
 const miniSearch = new MiniSearch({
-  fields: ['abstract', 'keywords', 'topics', 'authors', 'title', 'type'],
+  fields: [
+    'abstract',
+    'keywords',
+    'topics',
+    'authors',
+    'title',
+    'type',
+    'affiliations',
+  ],
   storeFields: ['key', 'abstract', 'manifest'],
   searchOptions: {
     boost: {
-      title: 2,
+      title: 3,
       keywords: 2,
       topics: 1,
       authors: 2,
+      abstract: 0.3,
     },
-    fuzzy: 0.2,
+    fuzzy: 2,
     prefix: true,
   },
 })