You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query-continue>
    <backlinks blcontinue="0|Main_Page|13" />
  </query-continue>
  <query>
    <backlinks>
      <bl pageid="3" ns="0" title="Spoken Tutorial Processes" />
      <bl pageid="4" ns="0" title="Project Overview" />
      <bl pageid="5" ns="0" title="Software Outline Creation" />
      <bl pageid="6" ns="0" title="Honorarium Details" />
      <bl pageid="7" ns="0" title="What is a Spoken Tutorial" />
      <bl pageid="8" ns="0" title="Pedagogy" />
      <bl pageid="9" ns="0" title="How to write a Script for Spoken Tutorials" />
      <bl pageid="10" ns="0" title="How to write a Script for Spoken Tutorials Summary" />
      <bl pageid="11" ns="0" title="Guidelines for narrating a Spoken Tutorial" />
      <bl pageid="12" ns="0" title="Guidelines for Screencasting a Spoken Tutorial" />
    </backlinks>
  </query>
</api>