diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/capa_module.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/capa_module.py
index 15e314c13f..f874d05710 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/capa_module.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/capa_module.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import dogstats_wrapper as dog_stats_api
 from .capa_base import CapaMixin, CapaFields, ComplexEncoder
 from capa import responsetypes
 from .progress import Progress
-from util.misc import escape_html_characters
+from xmodule.util.misc import escape_html_characters
 from xmodule.x_module import XModule, module_attr, DEPRECATION_VSCOMPAT_EVENT
 from xmodule.raw_module import RawDescriptor
 from xmodule.exceptions import NotFoundError, ProcessingError
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/html_module.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/html_module.py
index ac6c804bee..bd7291119a 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/html_module.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/html_module.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ from fs.errors import ResourceNotFoundError
 from pkg_resources import resource_string
 
 import dogstats_wrapper as dog_stats_api
-from util.misc import escape_html_characters
+from xmodule.util.misc import escape_html_characters
 from xmodule.contentstore.content import StaticContent
 from xmodule.editing_module import EditingDescriptor
 from xmodule.edxnotes_utils import edxnotes
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/util/misc.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/util/misc.py
index 961e94e75b..13c1288a27 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/util/misc.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/util/misc.py
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ def escape_html_characters(content):
             re.sub(
                 r"(\s| |//)+",
                 " ",
-                html_to_text(content))
+                html_to_text(content)
             )
         )
+    )