What does a negative result indicate when excluding a term using search symbols?

A negative result when excluding a term using search symbols indicates that the term was successfully excluded from the search results. In legal research and database searches, employing a negative search symbol (like a minus sign or "NOT") before a term directs the search engine to filter out any documents that contain that specific term. Therefore, if the search generates results that do not include documents with the excluded term, it confirms that the term has been successfully excluded from the shown results.

The other choices can be contextualized as follows: If the term were included in the results, it would imply that the exclusion was unsuccessful. A result indicating that no documents are found would suggest that the search might be too restrictive or that there are simply no relevant documents, rather than confirming the exclusion. Lastly, an invalid search would not yield any coherent results at all, which differs from a situation where specific exclusions are made and processed correctly.