I do not think that there is one reference. Such solution is a piece of art. For example, Korteweg-de-Vries equation du/dt = u du/dx+d3u/dx3 has solutions of periodic and solitary type. While the fist solutions were obtained by seeking them in a form of wave z=x-vt, it took much time and rather sophisticated theory to find multi-soliton solutions. The similar situation is with other PDE.
Plethora of such solutions are available for integrable partial difference equations. For a brief introduction to the subject and some further references see e.g. the links below.
What are the standard references for closed form solutions of nonlinear partial difference equations? - ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_are_the_standard_references_for_closed_form_solutions_of_nonlinear_partial_difference_equations#56f478e340485455ce7e5491 [accessed Mar 25, 2016].
Solving non-linear partial differential equations is a challenging task. First they do not admit separation of variables, however with special techniques generalized separation of variables method can be applied as Burger's equation is converted to heat equation and then heat equation is solved. The book "Handbook of Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations, Polyanin & Zaitsev. Chapman & Hall/CRC 2004" contains the generalized separation of variables method. Moreover , some semi analytic method such as Adomian Decomposition Method, He's method etc available in the literature can be used.