can i use a desktop monitor on my notebook which has a broken lcd?

one of my kids jerked laptop from the other kid, 1/2 screen turned white, other has was blue and green with crack across it, after a few weeks tried to power up now get black screen, I want to run cable from regular desktop monitor to acer shoot for, can not afford lcd for laptop or another laptop, anyone know if this is possible or if I need to buy special cords? And how do I tell is the monitor is compatible?