diff --git a/isa/src/participate.js b/isa/src/participate.js
index 764476e..17022c5 100644
--- a/isa/src/participate.js
+++ b/isa/src/participate.js
@@ -97,9 +97,13 @@ function searchResultsFormat(state) {
     if (!state.id) {
       return state.text;
     }
-    var $state = $(
-      '<span class="search-result-label">' + state.text + '</span> <br> <span class="search-result-description">' + state.description + '</span>'
-    );
+    var $state = $('<span class="search-result-label">')
+        .text(state.text)
+        .add('<br>')
+        .add(
+            $('<span class="search-result-description">')
+                .text(state.description)
+        );
     return $state;
   }
 
diff --git a/isa/src/participation-manager/populate.js b/isa/src/participation-manager/populate.js
index c88c269..7358976 100644
--- a/isa/src/participation-manager/populate.js
+++ b/isa/src/participation-manager/populate.js
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ ParticipationManager.prototype.populateStructuredData = function(filename, callb
             // now we have the labels, populate the statements area to show existing depicts items
             // we need to extract isProminent from results of previous API call to Commons
             // and add the labels and descriptions found to the existing stored data
-            var intialStatementsHtml = "";
+            var intialStatementsHtml = $();
             for (var qvalue in response.entities) {
                 var storedStatementData = getStoredStatementData(qvalue);
 
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ ParticipationManager.prototype.populateStructuredData = function(filename, callb
                     isProminent = storedStatementData.isProminent,
                     statementId = storedStatementData.statementId;
 
-                intialStatementsHtml += me.getStatementHtml(qvalue, label, description, isProminent, statementId);
+                intialStatementsHtml.add(me.getStatementHtml(qvalue, label, description, isProminent, statementId));
 
                 // save label and description
                 storedStatementData.label = label;
@@ -178,18 +178,39 @@ ParticipationManager.prototype.getStatementHtml = function(item, label, descript
     var prominentHoverText = this.i18nStrings['Mark this depicted item as prominent'];
     var notProminentHoverText = this.i18nStrings['Mark this depicted item as NOT prominent'];
 
-    var isProminentButtonHtml = isProminent ?
-        '<button class="btn btn-sm prominent-btn active" title=' + notProminentHoverText + '><i class="fas fa-flag"></i></button>' :
-        '<button class="btn btn-sm  prominent-btn" title=' + prominentHoverText  + '><i class="fas fa-flag"></i></button>';
-
-    return [
-        '<div class="depict-tag-item" ' + statementIdAttribute + ' title="' + description + '">',
-        '<div class="depict-tag-label">',
-        '<div class="label btn-sm"><span class="depict-tag-label-text"><a href="//www.wikidata.org/wiki/' + item + '" target="_blank">' + label + '</a></span> <span class="depict-tag-qvalue">' + item + '</span></div>',
-        isProminentButtonHtml,
-        '<div class="depict-tag-btn">',
-        '<button class="fas fa-trash btn-link btn" title="' + this.i18nStrings['Remove this depicted item']  + '"></button></div>',
-        '</div></div></div>'].join("");
+    var isProminentButtonHtml = $('<button class="btn btn-sm prominent-btn"><i class="fas fa-flag"></i></button>');
+    isProminentButtonHtml.attr('title', prominentHoverText);
+    if (isProminent) {
+        isProminentButtonHtml.addClass('active');
+    }
+
+    return $('<div class="depict-tag-item" ' + statementIdAttribute + '>')
+        .attr('title', description)
+        .append(
+            $('<div class="depict-tag-label">')
+                .append(
+                    $('<div class="label btn-sm">')
+                        .append(
+                            $('<span class="depict-tag-label-text">')
+                                .append(
+                                    $('<a href="//www.wikidata.org/wiki/' + item + '" target="_blank">')
+                                        .text(label))
+                        )
+                        .append(' ')
+                        .append(
+                            $('<span class="depict-tag-qvalue">')
+                                .text(item)
+                        )
+                )
+                .append(isProminentButtonHtml)
+                .append(
+                    $('<div class="depict-tag-btn">')
+                        .append(
+                            $('<button class="fas fa-trash btn-link btn"')
+                                .attr('title', this.i18nStrings['Remove this depicted item'])
+                        )
+                )
+        );
 }
 
 function populateCaption(language, text) {