diff --git a/search/scorer/scorer_term.go b/search/scorer/scorer_term.go
index 15533686c..f5f8ec935 100644
--- a/search/scorer/scorer_term.go
+++ b/search/scorer/scorer_term.go
@@ -76,6 +76,13 @@ func (s *TermQueryScorer) computeIDF(avgDocLength float64, docTotal, docTerm uin
 	return rv
 }
 
+// queryTerm - the specific term being scored by this scorer object
+// queryField - the field in which the term is being searched
+// queryBoost - the boost value for the query term
+// docTotal - total number of documents in the index
+// docTerm - number of documents containing the term
+// avgDocLength - average document length in the index
+// options - search options such as explain scoring, include the location of the term etc.
 func NewTermQueryScorer(queryTerm []byte, queryField string, queryBoost float64, docTotal,
 	docTerm uint64, avgDocLength float64, options search.SearcherOptions) *TermQueryScorer {
 
@@ -132,9 +139,7 @@ func (s *TermQueryScorer) SetQueryNorm(qnorm float64) {
 	}
 }
 
-func (s *TermQueryScorer) docScore(tf, norm float64) float64 {
-	// tf-idf scoring by default
-	score := tf * norm * s.idf
+func (s *TermQueryScorer) docScore(tf, norm float64) (score float64, model string) {
 	if s.avgDocLength > 0 {
 		// bm25 scoring
 		// using the posting's norm value to recompute the field length for the doc num
@@ -142,8 +147,13 @@ func (s *TermQueryScorer) docScore(tf, norm float64) float64 {
 
 		score = s.idf * (tf * search.BM25_k1) /
 			(tf + search.BM25_k1*(1-search.BM25_b+(search.BM25_b*fieldLength/s.avgDocLength)))
+		model = index.BM25Scoring
+	} else {
+		// tf-idf scoring by default
+		score = tf * norm * s.idf
+		model = index.DefaultScoringModel
 	}
-	return score
+	return score, model
 }
 
 func (s *TermQueryScorer) scoreExplanation(tf float64, termMatch *index.TermFieldDoc) []*search.Explanation {
@@ -198,12 +208,13 @@ func (s *TermQueryScorer) Score(ctx *search.SearchContext, termMatch *index.Term
 			tf = math.Sqrt(float64(termMatch.Freq))
 		}
 
-		score := s.docScore(tf, termMatch.Norm)
+		score, scoringModel := s.docScore(tf, termMatch.Norm)
 		if s.options.Explain {
 			childrenExplanations := s.scoreExplanation(tf, termMatch)
 			scoreExplanation = &search.Explanation{
-				Value:    score,
-				Message:  fmt.Sprintf("fieldWeight(%s:%s in %s), product of:", s.queryField, s.queryTerm, termMatch.ID),
+				Value: score,
+				Message: fmt.Sprintf("fieldWeight(%s:%s in %s), as per %s model, "+
+					"product of:", s.queryField, s.queryTerm, termMatch.ID, scoringModel),
 				Children: childrenExplanations,
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/search/scorer/scorer_term_test.go b/search/scorer/scorer_term_test.go
index 5a7522514..097dbe243 100644
--- a/search/scorer/scorer_term_test.go
+++ b/search/scorer/scorer_term_test.go
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ func TestTermScorer(t *testing.T) {
 				Sort:            []string{},
 				Expl: &search.Explanation{
 					Value:   math.Sqrt(1.0) * idf,
-					Message: "fieldWeight(desc:beer in one), product of:",
+					Message: "fieldWeight(desc:beer in one), as per tfidf model, product of:",
 					Children: []*search.Explanation{
 						{
 							Value:   1,
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ func TestTermScorer(t *testing.T) {
 				Sort:            []string{},
 				Expl: &search.Explanation{
 					Value:   math.Sqrt(1.0) * idf,
-					Message: "fieldWeight(desc:beer in one), product of:",
+					Message: "fieldWeight(desc:beer in one), as per tfidf model, product of:",
 					Children: []*search.Explanation{
 						{
 							Value:   1,
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ func TestTermScorer(t *testing.T) {
 				Sort:            []string{},
 				Expl: &search.Explanation{
 					Value:   math.Sqrt(65) * idf,
-					Message: "fieldWeight(desc:beer in one), product of:",
+					Message: "fieldWeight(desc:beer in one), as per tfidf model, product of:",
 					Children: []*search.Explanation{
 						{
 							Value:   math.Sqrt(65),
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ func TestTermScorerWithQueryNorm(t *testing.T) {
 						},
 						{
 							Value:   math.Sqrt(1.0) * idf,
-							Message: "fieldWeight(desc:beer in one), product of:",
+							Message: "fieldWeight(desc:beer in one), as per tfidf model, product of:",
 							Children: []*search.Explanation{
 								{
 									Value:   1,
diff --git a/search/util.go b/search/util.go
index cde561a64..f4c631194 100644
--- a/search/util.go
+++ b/search/util.go
@@ -192,10 +192,12 @@ func (f FieldTermSynonymMap) MergeWith(fts FieldTermSynonymMap) {
 	}
 }
 
-// BM25 specific multipliers which affect the scoring of a document.
+// BM25 specific multipliers which control the scoring of a document.
 //
-// BM25_b - how much does a doc's field length affect the score
-// BM25_k1 - how much can the term frequency affect the score
+// BM25_b - controls the extent to which doc's field length normalize term frequency part of score
+// BM25_k1 - controls the saturation of the score due to term frequency
+// the default values are as per elastic search's implementation
+//   - https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/index-modules-similarity.html#bm25
 var BM25_k1 float64 = 1.2
 var BM25_b float64 = 0.75