The processes of creating an annotated bibliography in XML was definitely different than any other english assignment I’ve gotten. It provided an interesting experience of trying to convey the information I wanted in a way that would flow in an intuitive manner, and also fit the schema we put together. I had to give significantly more thought into how to phrase what I wanted to say, so I could also match the definition of the type attribute I was trying to write for. I do feel like the XML structure obstructed my writing process, but it did so in the same way a gutter guard would obstruct a bowling ball from going in the gutter. Having to use the structure kept me more focused on what I should be conveying in an annotated bibliography, rather than rambling and getting off topic. It also made me give more thought into what sources I chose for my bibliography. There were a few sources that I ended up not using because after I read through them and fitting them into the schema, I realized that the information wasn’t as useful as I initially thought it would be. From a technical perspective, it wasn’t too difficult it get used to. Really the only technical obstacle to overcome was learning how to navigate my way though Oxygen, and then figuring out how to test my final XML document in a normal format. Being a Computer Science student, the portions of the assignment where we had to use Github were’t new to me, and didn’t cause any problems.
Continuing to use XML is going to be a process that will take some getting used to, in both adapting my writing process for it and learning more about the technical aspects of it, but overall I feel I will come out in the end being able to more concisely and clearly express my ideas and thoughts.
