Wiring Problem

I have a porch with 4 lights connected to 2 3 pole switches. Recently, we had some ceiling work done where they took down each of the 4 fixtures. Now I'm trying to put the light fixtures back, but I'm not sure where to connect the black and white wires from the fixtures to the ceiling boxes. I can test each of the wires coming into the ceiling boxes and determine which ones are hot and switched hot. If I have a line that is never hot no matter what the position of the switches, is that the neutral line that to which I should connect the white wire on the fixture? Do I connect all the switched hot lines to the black line on the fixture? What about lines that are white but have black tape on them? Are there some general rules that I can follow??