We use the Galerkin averaging method to construct a coordinate transformation putting a nonlinear PDE in Poincaré normal form up to finite order. We also give a rigorous estimate of the remainder showing that it is small as a differential operator of very high order. The abstract theorem is then applied to a quasilinear wave equation, to the water wave problem and to a nonlinear heat equation. The normal form is then used to construct approximate solutions whose difference from true solutions is...